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Obama's Biggest Epic Fail was Hobbling the Economy — Worse Than ObamaCare!By Daniel Henninger -- The ObamaCare train wreck is plowing through the White House in super slow-mo on screens everywhere, splintering reputations and presidential approval ratings. Audiences watch popeyed as Democrats in distress like Senators Kay Hagan, Mary Landrieu and Mark Pryor decide whether to cling to the driverless train or jump toward the tall weeds. The heartless compilers of the Washington Post/ABC poll asked people to pick a head-to-head matchup now between Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. Mitt won. This is the most amazing spectacle of mayhem and meltdown anyone has seen in politics since Watergate. No question, it's tough on Barack Obama Continued >>
The Scheme Behind the ObamaCare Fraud!By Andrew McCarthy -- That is the Obamacare scheme. It is a Fabian plan to move an unwilling nation, rooted in free enterprise, into Washington-controlled, fully socialized medicine. As its tentacles spread over time, the scheme (a) pushes all Americans into government markets (a metastasizing blend of Medicare, Medicaid, and “exchanges” run by state and federal agencies); (b) dictates the content of the “private” insurance product; (c) sets the price; (d) micromanages the patient access, business practices, and fees of doctors; and (e) rations medical care. Concurrently, the scheme purposely sows a financing crisis into the system, designed to explode after Leviathan has so Continued >>The ObamaCare Scheme
By Thomas Lifson -- Former federal prosecutor Andrew McCarthy has done the nation a service by laying out the grand design underlying the secret plan to force the United States into a single payer system, with the government deciding who gets care and who is left to languish untreated and eventually die. It is the modern statist's dream, whereby the state becomes almighty, holding in its grasp the health of all its subjects (the term "citizens" becomes archaic at this point). Writing with precision, McCarthy lays out what he and other prosecutors of fraud mean by a scheme, and why it applies to Obamacare Continued >>

OBAMA LIED AND LIED, AND YOUR HEALTH PLAN DIED!

Obama’s Massive Fraud — Should Obama Be Criminally Prosecuted for a Serious Federal Felony, or Just Impeached?If He Were a CEO in the Private Sector, He’d Be Prosecuted for Such Deception

By Andrew C. McCarthy - ‘If you like your health-care plan, you will be able to keep your health-care plan. Period.”How serious was this lie, repeated by Barack Obama with such beguiling regularity? Well, how would the Justice Department be dealing with it if it had been uttered by, say, the president of an insurance company rather than the president of the United States?Fraud is a serious federal felony, usually punishable by up to 20 years’ imprisonment — with every repetition of a fraudulent communication chargeable as a separate crime. In computing sentences, federal sentencing guidelines factor in such considerations as the dollar value of the fraud, the number of victims, and the degree to which the offender’s treachery breaches any special fiduciary duties he owes. Cases of multi-million-dollar corporate frauds — to say nothing of multi-billion-dollar, Bernie Madoff–level scams that nevertheless pale beside Obamacare’s dimensions — often result in terms amounting to decades in the slammer.Justice Department guidelines, set forth in the U.S. Attorneys Manual, recommend prosecution for fraud in situations involving “any scheme which in its nature is directed to defrauding a class of persons, or the general public, with a substantial pattern of conduct.” So, for example, if a schemer were intentionally to deceive all Americans, or a class of Americans (e.g., people who had health insurance purchased on the individual market), by repeating numerous times — over the airwaves, in mailings, and in electronic announcements — an assertion the schemer knew to be false and misleading, that would constitute an actionable fraud — particularly if the statements induced the victims to take action to their detriment, or lulled the victims into a false sense of security.For a fraud prosecution to be valid, the fraudulent scheme need not have been successful. Nor is there any requirement that the schemer enrich himself personally. The prosecution must simply prove that some harm to the victim was contemplated by the schemer. If the victim actually was harmed, that is usually the best evidence that harm was what the schemer intended.To be more illustrative, let’s say our schemer is the president of a health-insurance company, and that it was clearly foreseeable to him that his company’s clients would lose their current insurance plans if the company adopted his proposal of a complex new health-insurance framework. In fact, let’s assume that the schemer not only had analyses showing that clients would lose their plans but that he also had a history of openly favoring a “single-payer” insurance system — i.e., an unconcealed desire to move everyone from private to government-managed insurance arrangements.Now, suppose the schemer nevertheless vowed to the company’s clients, to whom he bore fiduciary obligations, that they needn’t fear his proposed new insurance framework; under it, he promised time after time after time, if they liked their current plans, they would be able to keep those plans. And let’s say that, on the basis of that repeated vow, the clients supported the schemer’s reappointment as president and his proposed new framework. On these facts, the clients’ subsequent loss of their current insurance plans helps prove the schemer’s fraudulent intent. The schemer has committed not just a fraud but a carefully thought-out, fully successful fraud, replete with suffering victims.The concept of fraudulent deception, like the concept of perjury and other forms of actionable false statement, often entails not only affirmative lies — e.g., the general manager who tells a baseball player, “I will not trade you if you sign the contract,” and then proceeds to trade the player after he signs; the concept also commonly involves the omission of material facts (what’s called “material omission”) — e.g., the general manager who tells the player, “I will not trade you if you sign the contract,” under circumstances where, unbeknownst to the player, the general manager has already made arrangements to trade him.A material omission is the intentional failure to state any fact the communication of which would be necessary to ensure that statements already made are not misleading. The concept of material omission is a staple of fraud prosecutions. A good example is the Obama Justice Department’s ongoing and transparently political effort to portray financial institutions — as opposed to government policies — as the proximate cause of the mortgage-industry collapse that resulted in our national economic meltdown.Attorney General Eric Holder’s minions have recently sued Bank of America and UBS. The complaints filed in court by prosecutors allege that these financial institutions defrauded investors in the sale of mortgage-backed securities by failing to disclose important facts about the underlying mortgages. Indeed, prosecutors asserted that financial institutions’ statements about these securities were both lies and, even where arguably true, material omissions. That’s because the statements withheld from investors the fact that the institutions well knew, based on internal analyses, that many of the mortgages backing the securities would go into default.Recall that President Obama knew three years ago, based on internal analyses, that because of his administration’s own regulation-writing, millions of Americans would lose the health plans he nonetheless continued to promise they could keep. The president hid the data . . . just as did those financial institutions that his trusty attorney general has sued. Comparatively speaking, though, the financial institutions defrauded significantly fewer victims. Thus it is noteworthy that Holder is now demanding that the institutions pay hundreds of millions of dollars for their fraudulent misrepresentations.Even that is not good enough for some prominent Democrats. Senator Carl Levin, for example, blasted the Justice Department for not pursuing a criminal fraud case against Goldman Sachs. Goldman had not made false statements in marketing the securities in dispute; but it did fail to disclose that it had shorted the same securities — i.e., it was quietly betting against the same securities it was selling. (I wrote sympathetically toward Goldman here, and Nicole Gelinas posted a characteristically smart rebuttal here.) Senator Levin railed at Holder’s decision not to file criminal charges, portraying it as an abdication in the face of behavior that was “deceptive and immoral.” Of course, if you want to talk about “deceptive and immoral,” Obama was snowing ordinary Americans, not savvy investors; and he was not just betting against the insurance plans he was promising to preserve; he was personally working to wipe them out.The Justice Department is notoriously aggressive when it comes to material omissions by public corporations. Any public statement — not just in a required SEC filing but in any public context — may be deemed actionable if its purpose is to deceive the general public about a company’s condition. For example, as I’ve noted before, the Justice Department indicted Martha Stewart for fraud over press statements that did not disclose damaging information about her company.Ms. Stewart, naturally, was fearful that truthful statements would send the stock price plummeting. Obama, by comparison, was not lying merely to prevent a company from losing value. His fraud was, first, to induce passage of a plan designed gradually to destroy the private health-insurance market — a plan that barely passed and never would have been enacted if he’d been honest. And later, his fraud was to procure his reelection and the guaranteed implementation of Obamacare; had he been honest, he would have been defeated and Obamacare forestalled.Barack Obama is guilty of fraud — serial fraud — that is orders of magnitude more serious than frauds the Justice Department routinely prosecutes, and that courts punish harshly. The victims will be out billions of dollars, quite apart from other anxiety and disruption that will befall them.The president will not be prosecuted, of course, but that is immaterial. As discussed here before, the remedy for profound presidential corruption is political, not legal. It is impeachment and removal. “High crimes and misdemeanors” — the Constitution’s predicate for impeachment — need not be indictable offenses under the criminal code. “They relate chiefly,” Hamilton explained in Federalist No. 65, “to injuries done immediately to the society itself.” They involve scandalous breaches of the public trust by officials in whom solemn fiduciary duties are reposed — like a president who looks Americans in the eye and declares, repeatedly, that they can keep their health insurance plans . . . even as he studiously orchestrates the regulatory termination of those plans; even as he shifts blame to the insurance companies for his malfeasance — just as he shifted blame to a hapless video producer for his shocking dereliction of duty during the Benghazi massacre.It is highly unlikely that Barack Obama will ever be impeached. It is certain that he will never again be trusted. Republicans and sensible Democrats take heed: The nation may not have the stomach to remove a charlatan, but the nation knows he is a charlatan. The American people will not think twice about taking out their frustration and mounting anger on those who collaborate in his schemes.Andrew C. McCarthy is a senior fellow at the National Review Institute. He is the author, most recently, of Spring Fever: The Illusion of Islamic Democracy.

Obamacare Had a Two-Fold Purpose: Destroy Wealth and Create Democratic VotersDuring the online-only portion of Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” on Wednesday night, Washington Post columnist Charles Krauthammer laid out his theory on what Obamacare’s real intended purpose is: an instrument to redistribute wealth.Krauthammer made that claim in his column last week, but he explained how it works in practice to host Bret Baier and co-panelists former New Jersey Superior Court Judge Andrew Napolitano and The Hill associate editor A.B. Stoddard.That panel was presented with a viewer who asked what would happen if an individual couldn’t pay an insurance provider in the event of some medical situation that limited that individual’s ability to pay.But that might have been part of the plan, Krauthammer said. If an upper-middle class income earner is making too much to receive Obamacare subsidies, but winds up in a situation where they lose a significant amount of their wealth, that is part of the redistribution mechanism.“OK, I’ve got a solution,” Krauthammer said. “You make [$80,000 a year] and you don’t have any subsidies. You’ve got a high premium and you lose a lot of money and you end up poor. Well then, you go back and reapply. Now you get a subsidy because you’re poor. So that’s how it would work in practice. Look that wasn’t a joke. That was serious. This is a way of transferring wealth from the upper middle class where you get no subsidies to the lower middle class who aren’t poor enough to end up in Medicaid.”Krauthammer and Napolitano continued to play out how this works in theory, which is that this “wealth” would be moved around through the health care system via subsidies to those making too making too much to be on Medicaid, but are earning just little enough to qualify for those subsidies. It was a theory Stoddard questioned, but Krauthammer stuck to it, arguing this was something for which the White House had failed to see the political consequences.

NAPOLITANO: So the ’47 percent,’ which impaled Romney will go over 50 percent if this legislation succeeds in moving people below the poverty level and making them dependent on the government. And they vote.KRAUTHAMMER: Which is part of the plan. However, if you were wealthier and you lose it and you end up on Medicaid, I don’t think you’ll vote Democratic.STODDARD: I really don’t think the White House had a fantasy of this kind of a disaster. I just can’t imagine —KRAUTHAMMER: You misunder — it’s a political disaster. But the geniuses, the economists — if you hear Ezekiel Emanuel say on the “Fox News Sunday” this was designed — you had to get people out of the individual insurance market, generally people of some means, you put them in the exchanges, they overpay and you use the subsidy. This was not an accident. What they never understood is how disastrous it would be politically. But economically, that’s the way they make it work.BAIER: It is pretty incredible to try to get 5-7 million on the upside by March — the amount of money to try to get 7 million people in these exchanges.NAPOLITANO: It would be less expensive if they just paid the premiums for the 7 million out of the federal treasury.

The Website Is Fixable, But ObamaCare Isn't By Peter Schiff -- Put simply the program is built on a mountain of false assumptions and is covered by a terrain of unanticipated incentives. Any cleared-eyed observer should conclude that it is perfectly designed to raise the costs of care and wreck the federal budget. However, like just about every other complicated problem that bedevils the nation, the public has become far too caught up in the politics and has ignored the horrific details.The real shock of Obamacare is not the unbelievable ineptitude in which it was launched, but the naiveté in which it was designed. The only thing worse than the product launch may be the product itself. But unlike other major entitlements, like Social Security and Medicare, that took years to produce red ink that was far in excess of original assumptions, the financial shortfalls in Obamacare should show up very quickly. Republicans should not miss that opportunity to destroy this monster that threatens us all. Continued >>10 Signs that ObamaCare Is Going to Wreck the U.S. EconomyBy Michael Snyder -- It is hard to find the words to adequately describe how much of a disaster Obamacare is turning out to be. The debut of Healthcare.gov has been probably the worst launch of a major website in history, millions of Americans are having their current health insurance policies canceled, millions of others are seeing the size of their health insurance premiums absolutely explode, and this new law is going to result in massive numbers of jobs being lost. It is almost as if Obamacare was specifically designed to wreck the U.S. economy. Not that what we had before Obamacare was great. In fact, I have long argued that the U.S. health care system is a complete and total train wreck. But now Obamacare is making everything that was bad about our system much, much worse.Americans are going to pay far more for health care, the quality of that care is going to go down, they are going to have to deal with far more medical red tape, and thousands upon thousands of U.S. employers are considering getting rid of the health plans that they offer to employees altogether due to Obamacare. If the U.S. health care system was a separate nation, it would be the 6th largest economy on the entire planet, and now Obamacare is going to absolutely cripple it. To say that Obamacare is an "economic catastrophe" would be a massive understatement.Of course we were assured that it wouldn't turn out this way. We were promised over and over that we were going to pay less for health care, get better coverage, and be able to keep our current health plans if we were pleased with them. The following is what Obama said at a rally in 2009..."First of all, if you’ve got health insurance, you like your doctors, you like your plan, you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan. Nobody is talking about taking that away from you." Oh really?That was such a dramatic lie that even NBC News is turning on him. They discovered that Obama has known for three years that most people that rely on individual health insurance policies would not be able to keep them...Buried in Obamacare regulations from July 2010 is an estimate that because of normal turnover in the individual insurance market, “40 to 67 percent” of customers will not be able to keep their policy. And because many policies will have been changed since the key date, “the percentage of individual market policies losing grandfather status in a given year exceeds the 40 to 67 percent range.”That means the administration knew that more than 40 to 67 percent of those in the individual market would not be able to keep their plans, even if they liked them.Pretty much everything that Obama told us when he was selling us on his plan has turned out to be a lie.So what can we expect from Obamacare moving forward?The Following Are 10 Signs that ObamaCare Is Going to Wreck the U.S. Economy...

#1) It is being projected that millions upon millions of Americans are going to lose their current health insurance plans thanks to Obamacare. Most will be faced with the choice of either purchasing much more expensive health insurance or going uninsured. This will put even more stress on a middle class that is already disintegrating rapidly. The following is from the recent NBC News investigation mentioned above...Four sources deeply involved in the Affordable Care Act tell NBC News that 50 to 75 percent of the 14 million consumers who buy their insurance individually can expect to receive a “cancellation” letter or the equivalent over the next year because their existing policies don’t meet the standards mandated by the new health care law. One expert predicts that number could reach as high as 80 percent. And all say that many of those forced to buy pricier new policies will experience “sticker shock.”#2) The health insurance premium increases that some families are experiencing are absolutely mind boggling. According to Mike Adams of Natural News, one family in Texas just got hit with a 539% rate increase...Obamacare is named the "Affordable Care Act," after all, and the President promised the rates would be "as low as a phone bill." But I just received a confirmed letter from a friend in Texas showing a 539% rate increase on an existing policy that's been in good standing for years.As the letter reveals (see below), the cost for this couple's policy under Humana is increasing from $212.10 per month to $1,356.60 per month. This is for a couple in good health whose combined income is less than $70K -- a middle-class family, in other words.According to NBC News, an elderly couple in North Carolina was hit with a similar rate increase...George Schwab, 62, of North Carolina, said he was "perfectly happy" with his plan from Blue Cross Blue Shield, which also insured his wife for a $228 monthly premium. But this past September, he was surprised to receive a letter saying his policy was no longer available. The "comparable" plan the insurance company offered him carried a $1,208 monthly premium and a $5,500 deductible.Many Americans that were formerly in favor of Obamacare are now against it after they have seen what it is going to do to their budgets. The following is one example of this from a recent Los Angeles Times article...Pam Kehaly, president of Anthem Blue Cross in California, said she received a recent letter from a young woman complaining about a 50% rate hike related to the healthcare law."She said, 'I was all for Obamacare until I found out I was paying for it,'" Kehaly said.#3) Obamacare actually includes incentives for people to work less and make less money. The following is one example from a recent article by Sean Davis...In California, a couple earning $64,000 a year would not qualify for health care subsidies. A bronze plan for them through Kaiser would cost them about $1,300 each month, or $15,600 a year. But if that same family earned just $2,000 less, it would qualify for over $14,000 in annual health care subsidies, dropping their premiums for that same Kaiser plan to less than $100 per month.#4) Thankfully the employer mandate in Obamacare was delayed for a little while, but it will ultimately result in widespread job losses all over the country. In fact, we are already starting to see this happen. The following is from a recent article in the Economist...BEFORE the recession, Richard Clark’s cleaning company in Florida had 200 employees, about half of them working full time. These days it has about 150, with 80% part-time. The downturn explains some of this. But Mr Clark also blames Barack Obama’s health reform. When it comes into effect in January 2015, Obamacare will require firms with 50 or more full-time employees to offer them affordable health insurance or pay a fine of $2,000-3,000 per worker. That is a daunting prospect for firms that do not already offer coverage. But for many, there is a way round the law.Mr Clark says he is “very careful with the threshold”. To keep his full-time workforce below the magic number of 50, he is relying more on part-timers. He is not alone. More than one in ten firms surveyed by Mercer, a consultancy—and one in five retail and hospitality companies—say they will cut workers’ hours because of Obamacare. A hundred part-timers can flip as many burgers as 50 full-timers, and the former will soon be much cheaper.You can find a very long list of some of the employers that have either eliminated jobs or cut hours because of Obamacare right here.#5) Even if you are able to keep your job, there is no guarantee that your employer will continue to offer health insurance as an employee benefit. In fact, it is being reported that large numbers of employers have already decided to no longer offer health insurance to their employees because of Obamacare.#6) According to CBS News, so far the number of people that have had their health insurance policies canceled is more than three times greater than the number of people that have signed up for new policies under Obamacare...CBS News has learned more than two million Americans have been told they cannot renew their current insurance policies -- more than triple the number of people said to be buying insurance under the new Affordable Care Act, commonly known as Obamacare.#7) If what is going on in New York is any indication, those that are signing up for health insurance under Obamacare are going to have a really, really hard time finding a doctor...New York doctors are treating ObamaCare like the plague, a new survey reveals.A poll conducted by the New York State Medical Society finds that 44 percent of MDs said they are not participating in the nation’s new health-care plan.Another 33 percent say they’re still not sure whether to become ObamaCare providers.Only 23 percent of the 409 physicians queried said they’re taking patients who signed up through health exchanges.#8) Obamacare is turning out to be a gold mine for hackers and identity thieves. The personal information of millions of Americans could potentially end up being compromised. According to CNN, Healthcare.gov was found to be teeming with security holes...The Obamacare website has more than annoying bugs. A cybersecurity expert found a way to hack into users' accounts.Until the Department of Health fixed the security hole last week, anyone could easily reset your Healthcare.gov password without your knowledge and potentially hijack your account.And according to the New York Post, Healthcare.gov has been designed so badly from a security standpoint that it might have to be "rebuilt from scratch"...The chairman of the House Intelligence Committee said ObamaCare’s website, already a tangled mess, might need to be rebuilt from scratch to to protect against cyber-thieves because he fears it’s not a safe place right now for health-care consumers to deposit their personal information.“I know that they’ve called in another private entity to try to help with the security of it. The problem is, they may have to redesign the entire system,” Rep. Mike Rogers said on Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” political talk show. “The way the system is designed, it is not secure.”#9) As I noted in a previous article, approximately 60 percent of all personal bankruptcies in the United States are related to medical bills. Because millions of Americans are now losing their health insurance policies and millions of others will choose to pay the fine rather than sign up for Obamacare, more Americans than ever will find themselves overwhelmed with medical bills when they get seriously sick. This will result in even more personal bankruptcies.#10) In the end, the burden for paying for the subsidies that Obamacare offers is going to overwhelmingly fall on the taxpayers. This is going to cause our nightmarish national debt to get even worse. Peter Schiff recently explained why this is going to happen...It is also ironic that high-deductible, catastrophic plans are precisely what young people should be buying in the first place. They are inexpensive because they provide coverage for unlikely, but expensive, events. Routine care is best paid for out-of-pocket by value conscious consumers. But Obamacare outlaws these plans, in favor of what amounts to prepaid medical treatment that shifts the cost of services to taxpayers. In such a system, patients have no incentive to contain costs. Since the biggest factor driving health care costs higher in the first place has been the over use of insurance that results from government-provided tax incentives, and the lack of cost accountability that results from a third-party payer system, Obamacare will bend the cost curve even higher. The fact that Obamacare does nothing to rein in costs while providing an open-ended insurance subsidy may be good news for hospitals and insurance companies, but it's bad news for taxpayers, on whom this increased burden will ultimately fall.So what do you think of Obamacare? Has it directly affected your life yet?

Who's the Vilest Left-Wing Nut Job?DemRat Rep. Alan Grayson or DemRat Rep. Steve CohenRep. Alan Grayson Rep. Steve CohenSteve Cohen: Tea Party Republicans Are 'Domestic Enemies' We Took Oath To Defend AgainstBy Mark Finkelstein -- Watch out, Alan Grayson! (D-FL) You've got competition when it comes to uttering the ugliest slur on Tea Party Republicans . . .Sure, you've compared them to the Klu Klux Klan. But fellow Dem Steve Cohen (D-TN) has upped the ante. On Steve Kornacki's MSNBC show this morning, Cohen called Tea Party congressmen: "domestic enemies" that he took an oath to defend the country against.Did Kornacki challenge Cohen's libel? Hah! He merely observed that Cohen sounded "very pessimistic." View the video HEREWas Cohen's calumny what President Obama had in mind when this past week he proclaimed that "there is no reason why . . . we can't disagree between the parties while still being agreeable"?Note: readers will recall that Cohen was recently in the news when it turned out the beautiful young woman he was tweeting during the SOTU — that he claimed to be his daughter — wasn'tVictoria Brink, Cohen's Lust Interest, No Doubt! ... Lawmaker 'Stunned' To Find Out Bikini Model Isn't Love Child ... Cohen's 'secret daughter' is not his daughter, DNA test reveals ...STEVE COHEN:I obviously do not have an opportunity to go within the conference, the Republican, we call it a caucus, they call it a conference. But I know some of the members there, and a lot of those members, they're rabid, they're sophomoric, literally, they're second term in Congress, never worked in politics before, and they think they are somehow like--it's all talked in military terms. They think they're some kind of guerillas there to strike a blow for freedom. I think they may try to pull this off again. What John Boehner is going to have to do is decide that he's not going to be Speaker in 2015 and work with the same crew that gave us the opening-up of government: Nancy Pelosi's Democratic caucus and give or take 80 reasonable Republicans and pass some bills to avoid another CR problem and shutdown and avoid the debt crisis, protect the country from these people, who really, you got to think, we take an oath to support the country against all enemies foreign and domestic, and these are the domestic enemies.STEVE KORNACKI:You sound very pessimistic I think I can safely say about the near-term prospects for anything to be different.Alan Grayson: Tea Party ‘Largest Suicide Pact in History,’ ‘No More Popular Than the Klan’By Josh Feldman -- Democratic congressman Alan Grayson D-FL) is a verycolorfulman, and in keeping with that reputation, during an appearance on Al Sharpton‘s MSNBC show Thursday, he said the tea party is just about as popular as the KKK and compared John Boehner to Dr. Jekyll, among other things.Grayson joined Sharpton in bashing the tea party, saying Americans want them out of their lives and “at this point, the tea party’s no more popular than the Klan.”This is not the first time Grayson had made this comparison, saying in 2010 that the attendees of Glenn Beck‘s big rally were “wearing sheets over their heads 25 years ago.”Grayson predicted that the GOP is a dying party, “on its way out” like the Whigs were. He told Sharpton they “want to bring about the end of days” and cause utter “destruction” like “the largest suicide pact in history.” Grayson said it’s time to vote out tea partiers they’re not doing anything useful for the benefit of the country.But it’s not just the tea partiers who need to go in Grayson’s mind, John Boehner needs to join them. He called the House Speaker a “short-order cook for the far-right wing,” and saying that the “useless” Boehner used to be Dr. Jekyll and now he’s morphed into Mr. Hyde. Watch the video HEREDeranged Florida DemRat Rep. Uses Burning Cross to Spell 'Tea Party' in Fundraising EmailRead Grayson Email HereBy David Freddoso -- Dave Levinthal of the Center for Public Integrity, which covers campaign finance and other good government issues, posted a screencap this morning of an email fundraising pitch he received last night from Rep. Alan “Everyone’s Hero” Grayson, D-Fla. The pitch contains a trancript of Grayson’s recent interview on MSNBC by the Rev. Al Sharpton.But it’s the image that deserves all the attention. I think it speaks for itself.

By Aaron Klein -- Department of Homeland Security adviser Mohamed Elibiary has warned the tea party movement against attempting to change the U.S. political landscape through “Christianist Xenophobia.”In Twitter messages, Elibiary further charged some “white identity/privilege types” have a problem with a “black president” and “brown Mexicans.”“If #TeaParty wants US revived then we must swing Blue seats Red & that is only achievable thru Libertarianism, not Christianist Xenophobia,” Elibiary tweeted.Asked by WND in an email to clarify his remarks, Elibiary replied: “’Christianist’ is a term coined about a decade ago and like ‘Islamist’ (for Muslims) and ‘Zionist’ (for Jews) refers to Christians who mix theology and nationalism.”Elibiary said “Christianists” view “today’s politics through a theologically influenced (Calvinist) view of America’s founding.”“Xenophobia is easier for you to understand on your own, but it generally manifests itself in anti-immigrant policies of which Islamophobia today inside the U.S. is just one sub-component for some White Identity/Privilege types that have a problem with a black president, brown Mexicans and so on and so forth,” he told WND.Elibiary, however, said he sympathized with “white Americans” who are accused of racism for speaking out on political matters.“White Americans, unlike other racial and ethnic minorities, aren’t afforded some political space to publicly speak about group identity needs without racism blow back,” he said.“As one coming from the conservative side of the political spectrum, I’m perhaps more sensitive to the average white guy’s struggle with this dynamic then perhaps a leftist would.”Elibiary said WND falls into his definition of “Christianist.”“WND certainly would often times fall in this camp as well as perhaps a subset of Christianists that political scientists refer to as ‘Christian Zionists’ because of its foreign policy worldview through a dispensationalist end-time theology.”Last month, Elibiary, who was appointed to the Department of Homeland Security Advisory Council by then-secretary Janet Napolitano in 2010, tweeted that he was reappointed and even promoted.His tea party remarks are not the first time the DHS adviser’s tweets have stirred controversy.Last month, he used his Twitter profile to defend the Muslim Brotherhood while accusing Egypt’s persecuted Christian minority of inciting against Islam, WND reported.
The Investigative Project on Terrorism reported Elibiary’s tweets about Egypt’s Coptic Christians.“For decade since 9/11 attack extremist American #Coptic activists have nurtured anti #Islam & anti #Muslim sentiments among AM RT wing,” Elibiary wrote.Earlier, Elibiary attacked the U.S. Coptic community for its protests against a wave of Muslim attacks on their relatives in Egypt.“Good read by @mwhanna1 on need to reform #Coptic activism in #US including stop promoting #Islamophobia,” he wrote Sept. 14.Michael Meunier, president of Egypt’s Al-Haya Party and a Coptic activist, reacted to Elibiary’s tweets.“I think the Obama administration should be ashamed to have had someone like this in their administration,” he said. “This underscores the thinking inside the Obama administration.”WND further found Elibiary tweeted in defense of the Muslim Brotherhood and its U.S. offshoots in an exchange with the Investigative Project.“I treat MB objectively & w/ nuance. You define MB term too broadly, advocate 4 shutting down US Muslim orgs &treat all as ‘FACSISTS,’” he wrote.

Supporter of radicalsElibiary is a strong supporter of the radical Islamist theologian who calls for “war” with the non-Muslim world and whose teachings inspired and continue to govern al-Qaida and Islamic terrorist organizations worldwide.As WND reported, he spoke at a conference that honored the anti-U.S. founder of the Iranian Islamic revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini.Elibiary has strongly criticized the government’s persecution of fundraisers for Hamas and is a defender of the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR.He fervently endorses the teachings of Egyptian writer Sayyid Qutb, who is widely considered the father of the modern Islamic terrorist movement. Osama bin Laden and jihadist groups worldwide rely on Qutb for their fatwas and ideology.Elibiary, meanwhile, has criticized the U.S. government’s prosecution and conviction of the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation and five former officials for providing more than $12 million to Hamas, depicting the case as a defeat for the United States. CAIR was named an unindicted co-conspirator in the case.He wrote an op-ed in the Dallas Morning News suggesting the convictions were part of a U.S. government policy of “denying our civil liberties and privacy at home” while pursuing anti-terror policies that have “left thousands of Americans dead, tens of thousands maimed, trillions of taxpayer dollars squandered and our homeland more vulnerable than ever.”The Homeland Security Advisory Council, part of the executive office of the president, was formed by an executive order by President Bush in 2002.Qutb, executed in 1966 on charges of attempting to overthrow the Egyptian government, called for the creation of a worldwide Islamic state.Qutb declared: “There is only one place on earth which can be called the home of Islam (Dar-ul-Islam), and it is that place where the Islamic state is established and the Shariah is the authority and God’s limits are observed.”Qutb labeled the non-Muslim world the Dar-ul-Harb – the house of war.“A Muslim can have only two possible relations with Dar-ul-Harb: peace with a contractual agreement, or war,” wrote Qutb.“A country with which there is a treaty will not be considered the home of Islam,” he said.Elibiary has regularly upheld the teachings of Qutb. He writes that he sees in Qutb “the potential for a strong spiritual rebirth that’s truly ecumenical allowing all faiths practiced in America to enrich us and motivate us to serve God better by serving our fellow man more.”After Dallas Morning News editorial page editor Rod Dreher criticized Qutb’s writings, Elibiary engaged in a lengthy, published email debate in which he repeatedly defended Qutb.In one exchange, Elibiary wrote, “I’d recommend everyone read Qutb, but read him with an eye to improving America not just to be jealous with malice in our hearts.”

Speaker at Khomeini ConferenceIn 2004, as WND reported, Elibiary was one of seven advertised speakers at an Irving, Texas, conference titled “A Tribute to the Great Islamic Visionary,” celebrating the 16th anniversary of Khomeini’s death. Under a heading “Selected sayings of Holy Prophet,” one advertisement read: “Allah has made Islam to prevail over all other religions.”In an interview with WND at the time, Elibiary claimed he was not aware of the event’s general theme and “tribute” to Khomeini.WND directed him to an ad for the seminar posted on the Metroplex Organization of Muslims in North Texas website, which included a photo of Khomeini alongside a message speaking of “Islamic revolution.”

Obama Handler/Controller, Valerie Jarrett, Was 'Architect of Government Shutdown' According to Author Ed KleinNote: Don't be deceived by Valerie's good looks.

Top Obama adviser Valerie Jarrett -- dubbed "The Night Stalker" by some staff because of her close ties to the First Family -- has been called the "architect" of the government shutdown showdown.President Obama’s top adviser Valerie Jarrett was behind a plan to force a showdown with Republicans over ObamaCare as part of a strategy to regain Democratic control of the House next year, claims author Ed Klein.Klein — who wrote a provocative biography about Obama last year entitled “The Amateur” — said White House insiders refer to Jarrett as “The Night Stalker” because she is the only presidential aide who frequently spends time in the family quarters and dines with the Obamas.Klein, who is conducting a research for a new Obama tome scheduled for next spring, called Jarrett the “architect” of Obama’s take-no-prisoners approach when it comes to his signature domestic policy initiative.It was Jarrett who advised Obama that voters would mostly blame Republicans if the federal government ground to a halt, providing a golden opportunity to swing back control of the House to Democrats in the 2014 mid-term elections, according to Klein.A Democratic House would give Obama an opportunity to pass immigration and other legislation blocked by the current Republican majority.“It was during one of those nightly sessions that Jarrett devised the no-negotiating strategy that Obama has employed in his fight with the GOP over the government shutdown,” Klein said, citing sources within the administration.“Valerie came up with the concept late at night, after the kids and grandma and were gone.”“She convinced the president that a government shutdown and default offered a great opportunity to demonize the Republicans and help the Democrats win back a majority in the House of Representatives in 2014.. . Valerie also came with the idea of using the words `hostage’, and `ransom,’ and `terrorists’ against the Republicans,’” Klein said.Jarrett, who like the Obamas hails from Chicago, has deep ties to the president, First Lady Michelle and the extended family.“Everyone in the Beltway knew Valerie Jarrett was influential. They didn’t know how influential she was,” said Klein, who interviewed more than a half dozen White House and former presidential advisers about the shutdown strategy.“Her power derived from one simple fact — proximity, No one except Michelle Obama is closer to the president than Valerie,” Klein quoted Democratic power broker Vernon Jordan as saying. Jordan’s wife is a cousin of Jarrett.Jarrett is the one who advised Obama “do not cooperate one iota on ObamaCare. Don’t given an inch. Let the Republicans stew in their own juice,“ Klein said.“The Republicans walked into a trap set up by Valerie Jarrett and President Obama, The Republicans are in an untenable position,” he added.Klein said Jarrett is the conscience of the administration, “the keeper of the flame” who reminds Obama why he wanted to become president.“The government shutdown is about protecting ObamaCare, yes. But it’s much larger than that. It’s about the 2014 House elections,” said Klein.The White House had no immediate comment.

Like many Republican lawmakers, Brenda Barton is furious that the federal government shutdown has forced the closure of national parks.Barton, an Arizona state representative, took to Facebook to express her fury in a series of status updates Monday. In one, she compared President Barack Obama to Adolf Hitler.“Someone is paying the National Park Service thugs overtime for their efforts to carry out the order of Der Fuhrer,” Barton wrote. “Where are our Constitutional Sheriffs who can revoke the Park Service Rangers authority to arrest??? Do we have any Sheriffs with a pair?”Fuhrer, the German term for leader, is most often associated with Hitler.“While the POTUS continues to punish the American people,” Barton continued, “he keeps open his golf course, he keeps open Camp David, and he retains his and his wife’s excessive staff and stable of Czars! I’ll bet he has kept in service his 3 food tasters!!!”The federal government has been in partial shutdown since Oct. 1 after the Republican-controlled House refused to pass legislation to fund government services unless the president’s health care law is delayed or defunded. Obama has refused to negotiate over his signature domestic legislation, otherwise known as Obamacare.“The Chief Executive is acting as an Imperial President,” she added, “without regard to his citizens, only caring about his agenda. With all the exemptions he has unilaterally bestowed on many interest groups, could he not delay the ACA Individual Mandate for a single year? Without regard for the elected House of Representatives. What do you call that?”But it was the comparison to Hitler that drew criticism from many, including Arizona House Democrats.“You owe an apology to the President, and Arizona for embarrassing us,” Rep. Ruben Gallego wrote on Twitter. “You are potentially creating problems for many government employees. [W]hat you are saying is completely incorrect and illegal.”In an interview with the Arizona Capitol Times, Barton stood by the comparison.“He’s dictating beyond his authority,” she said of Obama. “It’s not just the death camps. (Hitler) started in the communities, with national health care and gun control. You better read your history. Germany started with national health care and gun control before any of that other stuff happened. And Hitler was elected by a majority of people.”“It got your attention,” she added. “[President Obama is] doing something controversial. It’s not controversial that I’m criticizing him. I don’t think that’s controversial at all.”Barton wasn’t the only politician to connect the United States to the Third Reich.In an interview with RT Spanish’ Entrevista, Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa compared American exceptionalism under Obama to Nazi Germany.“Does not this remind you of the Nazis’ rhetoric before and during World War II?” Correa said. “They considered themselves the chosen race, the superior race, etc. Such words and ideas pose extreme danger.”

Monday, May 2, 2011

Spotting Forged Documents for Dummies

In these two pictures it is easy to see that the signatures on the document come from different sources. The resolution on the Dunham signature (at top) is higher than the resolution of the Sinclair signature (below) which is composed entirely of "big" pixels.

A very easy comparison illustrating that the latest Obama Birth Certificate is a manipulated forgery.

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Dr. Benjamin Carson declared Friday that “Obamacare is the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery.”Carson, a former professor of neurosurgery, oncology and pediatrics at Johns Hopkins University, spoke Friday at the Values Voters Summit in Washington.“I have to tell you, you know, “Obamacare” is really, I think, the worst thing that has happened in this nation since slavery,” Carson said. “In a way, it is slavery, in a way because it is making all of us subservient to the government.”The statement prompted a strong standing ovation.“It was never about health care,” Carson continued. “It was about control and that’s why – that’s why when this administration took office it didn’t matter that the country was going off the cliff economically. All forces were directed toward getting this legislation passed.”Carson rose to prominence earlier this year for his speech at the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, and has fielded some calls to run for president in 2016. Carson didn’t address that in his remarks, but is in company at the summit with numerous other presumed Republican contenders including Sens. Rand Paul, Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio.“Vladimir Lenin, one of the fathers of socialism, said that socialized medicine is the keystone to the establishment of a socialist state,” Carson said. “Some people say, oh come on, you’re being paranoid. Why would you bring up something like that. I would say if you know anything about history, how could you not bring that up.”

18 Facts About the Obamacare Launch 'Train Wreck' That Everyone Should Know Even though it is nearly impossible to get signed up for health insurance through the Obamacare websites, if you don’t currently have health insurance you better get signed up by January 1st or you will get slapped with a fine. Is this fair? Of course not. But this is the way that the U.S. government works in the 21st century. They put unreasonable demands on people, and then the government punishes them heavily when they are not able to comply. The launch of the online “health insurance exchanges” which were supposed to make signing up for Obamacare a breeze has been an abysmal failure. There have been a great many examples of government incompetence over the years, but this one might take the cake. The Obama administration spent more than 650 million dollars to set up these websites, and they are so hideously dysfunctional that hardly anyone has actually been able to get signed up for Obamacare over the first ten days. But instead of delaying the individual mandate, the Obama administration is using the threat of a fine to force millions of Americans to use a system that is a complete and total nightmare.

The following is how USA Today (hardly an opponent of Obama) described the launch of Obamacare… Alas, the administration managed to turn the experience for most of those visitors into a nightmare. Websites crashed, refused to load, or offered bizarre and incomprehensible choices. Even though the system was shut down for repairs over the weekend, Monday’s early reports continued to suggest an epic screw-up.And Digital Trends was even harsher in their assessment of the launch…It’s been one full week since the flagship technology portion of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) went live. And since that time, the befuddled beast that is Healthcare.gov has shutdown, crapped out, stalled, and mis-loaded so consistently that its track record for failure is challenged only by Congress.The launch of Obamacare has been such a disaster that it is really hard to find the words to adequately describe it.The following are 18 facts about the Obamacare launch train wreck that everyone should know…

#1) According to a survey that was just released, approximately 90 percent of the people that have tried to enroll for Obamacare say that they were not able to get signed up.#2) And many of those that believe that they did get “signed up” are not actually enrolled in a health insurance plan. In fact, health insurance executives say that only about 1 out of every 100 applications being submitted on the Obamacare health insurance exchanges contain enough information to get an applicant successfully enrolled in a health insurance plan.#3) The Iowa Obamacare exchange has enrolled a grand total of five people in Obamacare at this point.#4) The Hawaii Obamacare exchange was so bad that the entire site has been taken down and will eventually be relaunched.#5) Early this week, the Wall Street Journal was reporting that health insurance executives were saying that only “hundreds” of Americans had successfully enrolled through the Obamacare websites so far.#6) One online database programmer had the following to say about the Healthcare.gov website: “It wasn’t designed well, it wasn’t implemented well, and it looks like nobody tested it.”#7) The Obama administration received numerous warnings that the launch of the health insurance exchanges was going to be a major disaster. Major insurers, state health-care officials and Democratic allies repeatedly warned the Obama administration in recent months that the new federal health-insurance exchange had significant problems, according to people familiar with the conversations. Despite those warnings and intense criticism from Republicans, the White House proceeded with an Oct. 1 launch.#8) According to one estimate, it cost more than 650 million dollars to build Healthcare.gov.#9) When you create an account on Heathcare.gov, you are handing over a whole host of personal information to the federal government which may end up being used for a vast array of different purposes.#10) According to Politico, there is no way to delete an account once you have created one on Healthcare.gov…Once you finally make it into HealthCare.gov, it’s not clear how you get out.#11) One expert believes that it could take up to two years before the technical glitches are ironed out of Obamacare…#12) The system is so bad that even CNN’s Wolf Blitzer is saying that the individual mandate should be delayed for a year.#13) Millions of Americans are paying much more for health care because of Obamacare. Obama's new health care law has a lot of new requirements, restrictions, and red tape. That means the cost of plans is going up and the amount of competition in many states is going down. Because of this, the price of health care is soaring all across the country#14) Millions of Americans have LOST their health care plans because of the law. One of Barack Obama's most famous promises about Obamacare was, "First of all, if you've got health insurance, you like your doctor, you like your plan - you can keep your doctor, you can keep your plan. Nobody is talking about taking that away from you."#15) The Obamacare website costs 650 million dollars, more than Facebook, and it doesn't work. How do you in good conscience roll out a product that just doesn't work when people's health is on the line? Worse yet, if the product costs this much and performs this badly, what does it tell you about how well it will work in the future? Facebook took six years to spend 500 million dollars, while the Obamacare website has already managed more than that.#16) Obamacare is a terrible deal for young Americans. As a general rule, older Americans tend to have more experience, more money, and more assets built up. Yet, for Obamacare to work financially, young Americans have to take a big financial hit to supplement the cost of insurance for senior citizens. In fact, most young Americans would be better off getting a cheap plan that doesn't qualify under Obamacare and paying the tax than they would signing up for an Obamacare approved plan.#17) Americans are losing their jobs because of Obamacare. America's economy has been sluggish throughout Obama's entire tenure as President and according to a study by numbers guru John Lott, 97% of the jobs added to the economy this year have been part-time. Obamacare is one of the biggest reasons that's happening. Retailers are cutting worker hours at a rate not seen in more than three decades to try to make sure their employees don't qualify under Obamacare.#18) America is still going to have tens of millions of Americans that are uninsured. The primary selling point of Obamacare was supposed to be that everyone would have health care. In fact, we heard over and over again that we had to pass Obamacare because "Forty million Americans don't have health care." According to the Congressional Budget Office, guess how many Americans won't have health care in 2023? If you guessed thirty-one million, give yourself a pat on the back.And a lot of Americans that already had health insurance are also discovering the pain of Obamacare. Millions of health insurance policies all over the country are being canceled, and tens of millions of other Americans are seeing their health insurance premiums go through the roof. This is even happening to a lot of impoverished Americans even though Obama specifically promised that his health care program would lower costs for the poor.

Jeanne Lambrew, Leftist Obamacare Official, Is Embroiled in IRS Scandal DAILY CALLER -- The White House official who exchanged confidential taxpayer information with the IRS is a longtime Obama advisor and progressive activist who is currently the most powerful official on Obamacare implementation within the White House. Jeanne Lambrew, deputy assistant to the president for health policy, entered Obama-world in 2008 as a health-policy adviser to then-Senator Obama’s presidential campaign.She was subsequently named deputy director and then director of the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) now-defunct Office of Health Reform, where she reported directly to Kathleen Sebelius.Lambrew’s current “deputy assistant to the president” position, while modest-sounding, gives her extensive and centralized power over the White House’s efforts to implement Obamacare.“[Lambrew] is also unabashedly liberal – often serving as the architect of her party’s most progressive ideas on healthcare reform,” wrote American Enterprise Institute resident fellow Scott Gottlieb in a March op-ed.“The few remaining centrists thinkers inside the White House, mostly scattered across the National Economic Council and Treasury, are gone – or largely marginalized when it comes to issues around implementation. The people drafting and reviewing the regulations are mostly centered in the White House and its Domestic Policy Council — and they mostly work for Jeanne Lambrew,” Gottlieb wrote.
“Normally, the Office of Management and Budget and the National Economic Council would be heavily engaged on the issuance of regulations tied to a major law like Obamacare. Not the Obama White House.The economists still play on the fiscal issues related to Medicare and Medicaid. But when it comes to Obamacare implementation, they are not calling the shots. The power is centered on Lambrew,” Gottlieb wrote.Lambrew exchanged confidential taxpayer information on organizations with IRS official Sarah Hall Ingram and White House health policy advisor Ellen Montz, according to 2012 emails obtained by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and provided to The Daily Caller last week. Ingram attempted to counsel Lambrew and the White House on a lawsuit from religious organizations opposing Obamacare’s contraception mandate.Lambrew also hosted 155 of Ingram’s 165 White House visits, according to White House visitor logs that were recently taken offline during the government shutdown. The IRS improperly targeted conservative groups for harassment of their tax-exempt applications and abusive audits between 2010 and 2012.

IRS SCANDAL IS ALIVE! OBAMA'S LADIES DID THE DIRTY WORK IN 'WAR ON RELIGION'Lois Lerner Sarah Hall Ingram

White House, IRS Exchanged Confidential Taxpayer Information on Religious OrganizationsDAILY CALLER -- Top Internal Revenue Service Obamacare official Sarah Hall Ingram discussed confidential taxpayer information with senior Obama White House officials, according to 2012 emails obtained by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and provided to The Daily Caller.Lois Lerner, then head of the IRS Tax Exempt Organizations division, also received an email alongside White House officials that contained confidential information.Ingram attempted to counsel the White House on a lawsuit from religious organizations opposing Obamacare’s contraception mandate. Email exchanges involving Ingram and White House officials — including White House health policy advisor Ellen Montz and deputy assistant to the president for health policy Jeanne Lambrew — contained confidential taxpayer information, according to Oversight.The emails provided to Oversight investigators by the IRS had numerous redactions with the signifier “6103.”Section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code forbids a federal employee from “disclos[ing] any return or return information obtained by him in any manner in connection with his service as such an officer or an employee.”Federal employees who illegally disclose confidential taxpayer information could face five years in prison.Thanks, David. Thanks for the information on [6103],” White House official Lambrew wrote to IRS official David Fish in a July 20, 2012 exchange. “I am still hoping to understand whether the 50 percent rule is moot if the organization does not offer goods and services for sale to the general public. Do we assume that organizations like [6103] do offer goods and services for sale?”Another email from Montz to Ingram and others refers to the “[6103] memo” and the “[6103] letter” while discussing organizations that are not required to file 990′s.Ingram appeared before Rep. Darrell Issa’s House Oversight Committee Wednesday and claimed she could not recall a document that contained confidential taxpayer information.“Well one of the areas of interest is there’s a significant redaction that quotes the statute 6103. Do you know who is underneath that blackout?” Issa asked Ingram.“I don’t recall the document so I can’t help you with what’s underneath that redaction,” Ingram said.“Her response has not put concerns to rest,” Oversight staffer Frederick Hill said. ”This caught people’s eye.”Issa has requested unredacted copies of the emails, citing a prohibition from misusing Section 6103 “for the purpose of concealing information from a congressional inquiry.”Ingram headed the scandal-ridden IRS office responsible for overseeing tax-exempt nonprofit groups before leaving to head the agency’s office in charge of Obamacare implementation.An IRS voice mail message declined to comment on any media inquiries during the government shutdown, citing law.

POLL: Obama Approval Rating HitsAll-Time Low — 37%BREITBART -- In today's edition of polls the media will collectively ignore, a new AP-GFK polls finds that Barack Obama's job approval ratinghas plummeted to 37%. The President's disapproval rating is up to 53%. There is no good news in this poll for anyone, but if past is prologue, this is the number the media will pretend does not exist as they attempt to manufacture a reality in which only the GOP is in trouble over the shutdown.While the poll shows that 62% blame the GOP for the shutdown and "[a]bout half said Obama or the Democrats in Congress bear much responsibility," here are other important numbers the media will ignore in this poll:Both Republican House Speaker John Boehner and Democrat Senate Majority Leader share a dismal 18% favorability rating.A full 52% of those polled believe, "Obama is not doing enough to cooperate with Republicans to end the shutdown; 63 percent say Republicans aren't doing enough to cooperate with him."Obviously, there is a pox on both houses happening here, but the headline of this poll from the AP and other publications distributing it, including the Washington Post, is "GOP Gets the Blame In Shutdown."As for the number showing the public blaming the GOP 2-to-1 over Democrats, that is way outside what other polls released as recently as Monday show. While the GOP are receiving most of the blame, other polls show the spread between Republicans and Democrats is in single digits.Republicans shouldn’t dismiss the number in this poll. It could be an outlier, or a trend. The media have been shamelessly lying and carrying Obama's water in this debate, and it is possible that the media's propaganda is having an effect.

Among the survey's findings:— Sixty-eight percent said the shutdown is a major problem for the country, including majorities of Republicans (58 percent), Democrats (82 percent) and independents (57 percent).— Fifty-two percent said Obama is not doing enough to cooperate with Republicans to end the shutdown; 63 percent say Republicans aren't doing enough to cooperate with him.— Republicans are split on just how much cooperation they want. Among those who do not back the tea party, fully 48 percent say their party should be doing more with Obama to find a solution. But only 15 percent of tea-party Republicans want that outreach. The vast majority of them say GOP leaders are doing what they should with the president, or should do even less with him.— People seem conflicted or confused about the showdown over the debt limit. Six in 10 predict an economic crisis if the government's ability to borrow isn't renewed later this month with an increase in the debt limit — an expectation widely shared by economists. Yet only 30 percent say they support raising the limit; 46 percent were neutral on the question.— More than 4 in 5 respondents felt no personal impact from the shutdown. For those who did, thwarted vacations to national parks, difficulty getting work done without federal contacts at their desks and hitches in government benefits were among the complaints.

THE SECOND WORST PREZ: TODAY'S MIDDLE CLASSRESEMBLES 1970s POOR(AP) -- Former President Jimmy Carter said Monday that the income gap in the United States has increased to the point where members of the middle class resemble the Americans who lived in poverty when he occupied the White House.Carter offered his assessment of the nation's economic challenges Monday at a Habitat for Humanity construction site in Oakland - the first of five cities he and wife Rosalynn plan to visit this week to commemorate their three-decade alliance with the international nonprofit that promotes and builds affordable housing.The recent economic downturn revealed that families living in even comparatively well-off, but expensive regions like the San Francisco Bay Area are economically insecure, he said."Even in one of the wealthiest parts of the world there is a great deal of foreclosures and now a great deal of people who are fortunate to own their own houses owe more on them than the houses are worth in the present market, and that's all changed in the last eight years," Carter said during an exclusive interview with The Associated Press.Taking a break from framing windows at a new 12-unit town house development in a section of East Oakland where Habitat already has built or repaired 115 homes, the 89-year-old former Democratic president said the federal government is investing less in affordable housing at a time of greater need."The disparity between rich people and poor people in America has increased dramatically since when we started," he said."The middle class has become more like poor people than they were 30 years ago. So I don't think it's getting any better."Years of tax breaks for the wealthy, a minimum wage untethered from the inflation rate and electoral districts drawn to maximize political polarization have reduced the quality of life for all but a small fraction of Americans and imperiled the nation's standing as "a real superpower," he said."Equity of taxation and treating the middle class with a great deal of attention, providing funding for people in true need, like for affordable housing, those are the sort of things that would pay rich dividends for Americans no matter what kind of income they have," said Carter, looking relaxed in a baseball cap, blue jeans and white sneakers."The richest people in America would be better off if everybody lived in a decent home and had a chance to pay for it, and if everyone had enough income even if they had a daily job to be good buyers for the products that are produced."Habitat for Humanity was founded in Georgia, the home state of the Carters. They first joined a Habitat for Humanity work site in 1984 in New York and have spent a week every year working on construction sites in the U.S. and abroad.On Tuesday, the former president and first lady are scheduled to help renovate homes in a section of Silicon Valley that has remained immune to the wealth generated by the high-tech industry. After that, they intend to travel to Denver, New York and Union Beach, N.J., where they will help rebuild homes wiped out by Hurricane Sandy.Move Over Jimmy Carter, Obama Has My Vote for Worst President -- Ever!By Michael Goodwin -- America has had some great presidents, many mediocre ones and a few bad ones. But we’ve never had one like Barack Obama. He’s the first who thinks the job is beneath him. He’s the first who turns political give-and-take into a crisis by refusing to negotiate with Congress. He’s the first who thinks the way to more power is to inflict pain on ordinary people. The move to barricade the World War II memorial reveals the mentality of a tin-pot dictator. The limited government shutdown did not need to affect the memorial because it is open 24 hours, without gates Continued >>

It’s Der Führer's Fault!Republicans have only one choice: to hold him accountable.By Peter Ferrara -- Day 2 of the government shutdown, and look out the window. The sun is still shining, and the sky is still blue. The birds are chirping.The Great Government Shutdown is not that big a deal, even for the government. The federal civilian workforce includes 2.9 million bureaucrats. Out of that, only 800,000 are being furloughed, or just 27%. Even for these workers, the shutdown just amounts to a paid vacation for a few days.Just like the overballyhood sequester, average Americans won’t notice any change in their lives at all. But for those you who are offended and indignant by the shutdown, or who know somebody who is, I can tell you how to fix it.

The Real Reason for the ShutdownThe government is shut down for only one reason. Barack Obama and the Democrats wanted a shutdown. That is because Obama and the Democrats are so certain that the public will blame the Republicans. And they are certain of that because your dopey neighbors keep telling pollsters that the Republicans are at fault.Listen, if your friends, neighbors, and relatives are upset about the shutdown, and they want it to end, they have the power to stop it immediately! All they have to do is tell pollsters that the shutdown is the fault of President Obama and the Democrats. If they will just do that, the shutdown will be over faster than you can say Your Mama.I explained the shutdown to my son, one of the few young men his age in America with a good job, this way in a text, when he asked about it:It is a good demonstration that we have too much government. A fourth of federal workers, 800,000, are sent home, and no one even notices. Obama and the Democrats wanted the shutdown because they are certain the public will blame the Republicans, and it is part of the grand Obama/Democrat strategy to manipulate the public into voting down the Republican House majority in 2014, the last check on Obama’s increasingly authoritarian rule. Democrats care ONLY about their own political POWER and nothing else. The poor, minorities, seniors, are all just used as props by the Democrats to expand their political power. Notice how easily the Democrats dropped seniors and slashed their Medicare when that was convenient to enact Obamacare, which is only all about another opportunity for massive expansion of their power.The Republicans did everything they could to avoid a shutdown, and still represent their constituents, because they know what the Democrats are thinking, and licking their chops about. They know that the Democratic Party controlled media will tell everyone the shutdown is the Republicans’ fault. Candy Crowley, Ann Compton, David Gregory, George Stephanopoulos, and the rest of the Democrat operatives carrying on their revolution by other means, posing as journalists. This is the world we live in.The Republicans are just doing what they were elected to do — stop Obama’s runaway socialist transformation of America, into a slow growth, lagging behind, former world-leading superpower. And as I recently explained in this space, they have done a good job. They have reversed the runaway Obama Democrat spending spree from O’s first two years, with total federal spending now actually declining, in actual dollars, the last two years in a row, since the Republican House majority was first elected in 2010. The last time that happened was right after the Korean War, 60 years ago.And now the Republicans have bravely fought to reverse Obamacare, as the American people have been demanding, which they will do, once they get the chance, I am confident.

Democrats for DictatorshipBut the continuing resolution (CR) fight is well worth the price, for what the fight has revealed about the Democrats, if the low information voters out there would just put on their thinking caps and pay attention. Republicans have now passed three CRs to fund the government. President Obama and the Democrats have just sneered at them, and pronounced that they are the ruling class, and do not need to stoop to negotiate with Republicans about it.President Reagan served his entire 8 years in office with a Democrat majority House run by the partisan Democrat Speaker “Tip” O’Neill. Reagan never refused to negotiate with O’Neill and his House Democrats. Reagan had them over to the White House to talk to him all the time. Consequently, Reagan got a lot done with them. They refused to even consider any entitlement reforms (payola for the Democrat political machine). But Reagan succeeded in getting them to agree to serious reductions in domestic discretionary spending.Reagan got through the Democrat-controlled House in his very first year $31 billion in spending cuts, close to 5% of federal spending then, which would be the equivalent of about $175 billion in spending cuts today. And those cuts were co-sponsored by a House Democrat! In constant dollars, non-defense discretionary spending declined by 14.4% from 1981 to 1982, and by 16.8% from 1981 to 1983. Moreover, in constant dollars, this non-defense discretionary spending never returned to its 1981 level for the rest of Reagan’s two terms! By 1988, this spending was still down 14.4% from its 1981 level in constant dollars. Even with the Reagan defense buildup, which won the Cold War without firing a shot, total federal spending declined from a high of 23.5% of GDP in 1983 to 21.3% in 1988 and 21.2% in 1989. That’s a real reduction in the size of government relative to the economy of 10%.President Reagan also got through Tip O’Neill’s Democrat-controlled House a 25% across the board cut in federal income tax rates for everybody, compromised down from the 30% cut he campaigned on. Then in his second term, he worked with the long-time Democrat Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee to achieve bipartisan support for the most sweeping tax reform in American history. As a result, during his time in office, President Reagan slashed the top federal income tax rate from an abusive, confiscatory 70%, all the way down to 28%, the greatest tax cut in world history.As a result, the economy which the Democrats had left in shambles in the 1970s, with double-digit inflation, double-digit unemployment and double-digit interest rates, took off after a couple of years in the greatest economic boom in world history. Inflation was reduced to negligible levels at the same time, which all the Democrat poobahs said would be impossible, and federal tax revenues doubled as a result.But President Reagan was a real leader, and heart and soul a product of middle-class American culture. Not a Marxist infiltrator who is not culturally an American, but raised during his formative years in Muslim Indonesia.President Obama illegally granted Congress and its staff a special exemption to the requirements of Obamacare, contrary to the express language of the Obamacare law. Instead, Congress has its own special deal, financed by the taxpayers, with the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP). If Obamacare is such a good deal, why did even Nancy Pelosi go crying to President Obama on behalf of Congressional and staff Democrats when they realized they would lose this special FEHBP deal for themselves under the law?The Republicans in their CR to fund the government expressly reiterated that Members of Congress and their staffs, as well as the President and Vice President and top Obama Administration political appointees, would all be subject to Obamacare in the Exchanges under the same rules as they have imposed on everyone else. But every Democrat in the Senate voted against that and in favor of the special exemption from Obamacare for themselves in the process of unpeeling and rejecting the Republican CR to fund the government. Landrieu, Pryor, Begich, every vulnerable Democrat.President Obama illegally delayed the employer mandate in Obamacare for one year, again contrary to the express language of the Obamacare law. The Republicans in their CR to fund the government provided that the individual mandate on working people requiring them to buy the highly expensive health insurance that the government has chosen for them to buy, or pay a penalty, shall be delayed as well. But every Democrat in the Senate voted against that and in favor of imposing the individual mandate and penalty on working people next year, but not the employer mandate and its penalty on their big business contributors. That again includes Landrieu, Pryor, Begich, every vulnerable Democrat.President Obama in fact has illegally delayed over 20 provisions of his own Obamacare law, contrary to the express provisions of that law, with no legal authorization to do so whatsoever. The Republicans in another CR to fund the government provided for a one year delay in the entire Obamacare law, which the President has already effectively admitted by his own actions is not ready for prime time. But every Democrat in the Senate just laughed this down as well.Thus we have the Senate Democrats for Dictatorship Caucus. The one-year delay in all of Obamacare would have legally authorized the President’s illegal actions in all the parts of Obamacare he has illegally delayed. Without that, President Obama today is now effectively ruling by decree, without authorization of law, like the authoritarian ruler of a Third World, banana republic, with the full support of the Democratic Party.House Republicans should respond by opening hearings, where witness after witness will recount all the illegal actions Obama has taken without authorization of law, indeed, contrary to his Constitutional duty to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. Such unspeakable conduct in office by Obama cannot be defended, amounting to impeachable offenses, and that is not a point over which reasonable people can differ.It does not matter that the Republicans cannot succeed in removing Obama from office in the face of the Democrat majority in the Senate. The point is first of all that the Republicans must stand up for the rule of law in America. This is not Argentina or Venezuela, as Barack Obama, Harry Reid, and the rest of today’s Democrats believe. Secondly, this action will dramatize to the American people Obama’s egregious conduct in office. Thirdly, this action will put Obama and the Democrats on the defensive, over conduct that they cannot publicly defend.Meanwhile, the Republicans seem to have hit their stride passing bills to fund the most urgent pieces of the federal government one by one. This may break through to even the low information voters out there that it is the Republicans trying to fund the government, and the Democrats refusing to do a thing to do so. The Republicans should pass these as actual appropriations bills in fact, and announce that they stand ready to meet Senate Democrats on these bills in a Conference Committee to keep the government funded whenever the Senate Democrats show up for work.

SICK DEM TRIANGLE: Gennifer Loves Bill, Bill Loves Hillary, Hillary Loves Huma!EXCLUSIVE: Two decades after her affair with Bill Clinton, Gennifer Flowers reveals they'd be together now if it wasn't for Chelsea — and how former president confided in her that Hillary was bisexual

● Flowers's 12-year affair with Bill Clinton was exposed in 1992 during his presidential campaign ● She bitterly regrets rejecting him when he last begged to see her and says he's the 'love of her life' ● Launching a career as a sex columnist she says Clinton taught her everything she knows ● Bill told her Hillary was 'bisexual' and that he had 'no problem with that'

'Let's talk:' When he contacted her eight years ago Gennifer Flowers admits she wasn't ready to talk to her former lover, Bill Clinton. Today she longs to

UK'S Daily Mail -- Their 12-year affair made Gennifer Flowers one of the most high profile mistresses in America. Now, two decades after they split amid scandal, the former news reporter from Little Rock, Arkansas wants to ‘sit down and talk’ with Bill Clinton.In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Gennifer has spoken of her deep regret at turning down Clinton’s pleas to talk some eight years ago and revealed her belief that they would still be together today, were it not the birth of Clinton’s daughter, Chelsea.
She said: ‘We have some unresolved issues that it would be nice to sit down and talk about now. He was the love of my life and I was the love of his life and you don’t get over those things.’ Gennifer thought that speaking out on 27 January 1992 would be the beginning and end of interest in her affair with Clinton. Instead it shaped the Presidential campaign and changed her life forever.As well as speaking candidly about the affair and its ongoing impact on her life, Gennifer has released previously unseen images from her Penthouse shoot to MailOnline. She was featured in the magazine's December 1992 issue.By then all lines of communication with Clinton had been severed and she had no contact with him for 13 years when he called out of the blue. She said: ‘He called me back in 2005 in New Orleans. He wanted to put on the hoodie and jog on over like he used to.'First I was just shocked. He was so adamant about wanting to sit down and talk to me in person.'It almost seemed like what I had heard of people who were going through a 12 step program and wanted to atone to people for various things.’At the time Gennifer, 63, was recently divorced after a ten year marriage.She said: ‘I was scared. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to see him in my heart of hearts. I was just afraid. But there’s going to be an attachment forever.‘If we had the opportunity to sit down and visit with each other in person, I’m not saying the romance would be rekindled but we will always have something. Whatever you might call it.'Bill and I would be together today if it wasn't for politics. It was me, Bill and Hillary. Then they had Chelsea and the stakes got too high.'Apparently driven on by the belief that the ‘truth will set you free,’ she proceeded to tell her story in a best-sellling book and pose for Penthouse magazine.Penthouse alone reportedly earned her close to $1million in the aftermath of the scandal.She said: ‘I was singing in nightclubs, wearing very sexy outifts and gowns, a very independent liberated woman. I was the Madonna of my day – in Little Rock.’On posing for Penthouse Gennifer said: ‘I made the decision to do it.'No-one made me do or asked me to do anything that made me feel uncomfortable.I knew Bob (Guccione) would be making me look as good as possible and what woman doesn’t enjoy that?'Of the infamous publisher, whose most famous pictures are available to view on the Guccione Collection website boasts his favorite pictures from the Penthouse archives, she said, 'Bob was just a stud.'But while some might assume that, all these years later, Flowers – who has established herself as a cabaret singer in New Orleans - would want to shed herself of those associations and of the ‘mistress’ title, she has chosen instead to embrace them.She said: ‘Why not? I was a mistress for many years.’And so as part of what she refers to as ‘the extended liberation of Gennifer Flowers’ her latest incarnation is as a sex advice columnist.Ask Mistress Gennifer’ will run daily on Guccionecollection.com– a site devoted to the archives of Penthouse publisher, Bob Guccione. The haul is part of a treasure trover discovered by businessman Jeremy Frommer after he bought Guccione's archives.Demonstrating something of the playfulness that saw her snare the then Governor of Arkansas she said: ‘I’m going to have to thank Bill for some of the advice I’m going to be giving.'It will be based on experiences I had with him.Gennifer in 1996: No longer in Clinton's bed but still in the spotlight in 1996.She added: 'I wish he would write to me.'He could do it. People don't have to send their name.'Really he taught me a lot.'Clinton, now 67, also shared a lot of intimacies regarding his marriage to Hillary.They left Gennifer in no doubt that the union is far from 'traditional.'She said: ‘What they have is very strong.'It obviously worked for them but I’ve never considered theirs a traditional marriage.’When rumours surfaced recently of an affair between Hillary Clinton and her transition office chief, Huma Abedin, 37, Gennifer was not surprised.The rumours concerning Huma, wife of disgraced former Mayoral candidate Anthony Weiner, 49, emerged as she stood by her husband in the wake of his recent 'sexting' scandal.Revelations that he had sent intimate pictures of himself and steamy messages to 23-year-old Sydney Leathers - a girl he had only ever 'met' online - finally did for his New York Mayoral campaign last week.The scandal broke almost exactly a year after the shamed congressman suffered a public mauling for the same behaviour. Then, as recently, his wife Huma Abedin stood by him.This time round Huma’s loyalty raised eyebrows and questions over why a woman of such accomplishment would stick by a man so apparently incapable of change.Gennifer said: ‘I don’t know Huma or the Weiners. I just know what Bill told me and that was that he was aware that Hillary was bisexual and he didn’t care. He should know.'He said Hillary had eaten more pussy than he had.’Yet however much their roles as mistress and wife cast Gennifer and Hillary Clinton as natural rivals Gennifer claimed to feel a sense of solidarity with Hillary, 65, and would support Hillary’s candidacy for President.She said: ‘The support I would give Hillary is as a woman. I’m one of those women who in so many aspects of my professional and personal life I’ve been out there making strides for women and allowing them to go down roads in which they were not welcome.‘I would love to see a woman president.'And she seems to be the only one that’s getting close to it.’According to Gennifer, the promise of the Presidency for herself one day was what bound Hillary to her faithless husband across the years.She said: ‘Absolutely that was her reason for sticking by him and he’s going to stick by her because he owes her that.‘I would have thrown his clothes out on the front lawn but that’s just me.’Reflecting on her affair with Clinton she said: ‘The whole experience changed my life forever and everything went in a different direction.'I don’t regret telling the truth. It was a defining moment in American culture absolutely.’The only difference now, she said, with advances in technology Clinton would have been unable to deny the affair as he did for several years.She said: ‘I had recorded telephone conversations thank God. But if I hadn’t had them and Monica [Lewinsky] hadn’t had that blue dress we would have been cast out as crazy stalkers.‘I think today Bill and I would have texted every opportunity we got. So I would have had tons of texts from him.’She also believes that they would be together today were it not for the birth of his daughter, Chelsea, in 1980.She said: 'for a long time he was able to have it all. Then when they had Cheslea and he became Governor the stakes became higher.'Today Gennifer is single. She has been engaged ‘a couple of times’ since her divorce in 2005. She lives in New Orleans and sings regularly, though no longer owns the cabaret club where she used to perform nightly.‘I love singing,’ she said. ‘It’s who I am. That’s who I am today I’ve had the opportunity as time has gone on to put things in their place in my head and move forward.‘But,’ she admitted. ‘I’m still affected by it, the Clintons in some way every day and every day something happens that sparks a memory.‘It was a defining moment in American culture absolutely and to an extent I paid a high price for my honesty.’

HILLARY ULTIMATUM: Dump Weiner or 'Sleep On the Floor!'

Top Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin has been given an ultimatum: dump serial-sexting hubby Anthony Weiner, or get out of Clintontown.“Huma has a choice to make,” a close associate tells New York magazine. “Does she go with Anthony, or does she go with Hillary?”Abedin’s decision over whether to leave the “Clinton bubble,” where she’s seen as Hillary’s most trusted aide, has emerged as “the biggest question among Hillary’s circle” as the former Secretary of State mulls a 2016 run for the White House, the magazine reports.The Clinton camp was blindsided by revelations over the summer — during Weiner’s disastrously failed New York mayoral run — that he’d kept up his secret online sexting even after resigning from Congress in shame in 2011. Abedin was quickly advised to keep her distance from her scandal-scarred mate, and vanished from Weiner’s side for the rest of the campaign. The candidate’s bird-flipping parting shot to reporters after his humiliating defeat this month made a bad situation even worse, according to New York.In July, Weiner was forced to admit he’d continued his X-rated shenanigans well into 2012 — using the handle “Carlos Danger” as he traded photos and sex talk with at least 3 women after one of them, Sydney Leathers, came forward with details of his debauchery. Abedin awkwardly stood by her man as he made the confession, but quickly caved to pressure from the Clinton camp – which feared being tarnished by Weiner’s tawdry addiction – to stop campaigning for him. She didn’t accompany her husband to the polls on election day, and was reportedly hunkered down with friends in the Hamptons as Weiner went down in flames when the results came in.“Abedin has struggled to reconcile her marriage to Weiner with her role as Clinton’s top aide, traumatized by the prospect of leaving her boss’ inner circle,” the magazine reports, citing a person familiar with the situation.Abedin is also under scrutiny for consulting work she did for an investment bank run by Bill Clinton’s longtime right-hand man, Doug Band, and another gig she had with the William Jefferson Clinton Foundation while still being paid as a government employee.Abedin’s tough choice comes as Hillary Clinton, out of the official public office spotlight for the first time since 1992, considers her own options.While Clinton-backers push her toward a 2016 presidential run, Hillary says she’s enjoying her version of kicking back, and running the Clinton family’s foundation with Bill and Chelsea.“We get to be at home together a lot more now than we used to in the last few years,” Clinton told New York’s Joe Hagan, in her first extensive interview since leaving the State Department post. “We have a great time; we laugh at our dogs; we watch stupid movies; we take long walks; we go for a swim. You know, just ordinary, everyday pleasures.”“It feels great,” she said, “because I have been on this high wire for twenty years, and I was really yearning to just have more control over my time and my life, spend a lot of that time with my family and my friends, do things that I find relaxing and enjoyable, and return to the work that I had done for most of my life.”While she was Secretary of State, Bill Clinton took a back seat, barely registering on staffers’ radar, according to one aide.“He had a very minimal presence in her time at the State Department,” the insider told the magazine. “It’s kind of jarring when she says ‘Bill.’ We, who’s Bill? And then you realized that she’s talking about her husband. It happened so infrequently that you were kind of like, Oh, the president.”Hillary said her spouse doesn’t spend his days hassling her about making a White House run, noting, “I don’t think even he is, you know, focused on that right now. Right now, we’re trying to just have the best time we can have doin’ what we’re doin’.”Asked is she wrestles with running for president, Hillary said, “I do. But I’m both pragmatic and realistic. I think I have a pretty good idea of the political and governmental challenges that are facing our leaders, and I’ll do whatever I can from whatever position I find myself in to advocate for the values and the policies I think are right for the country.”“ I will just continue to weigh what the factors are that would influence me making a decision one way or the other,” she said.But confidantes insisted Hillary has no choice but to enter the race.“She’s running, but she doesn’t know it yet,” one source said. “It’s just like a force of history. It’s inexorable, it’s gravitational. I think she actually believes she has more say in it than she actually does.”“She’s doing a very Clintonian thing,” another insider said. “In her mind, she’s running for it, and she’s also convinced herself she hasn’t made up her mind. She’s going to run for president. It’s a foregone conclusion.”

20Mainstream Media Says Aaron Alexis Was a Deranged Buddhist, But He Was So Crazy He Created a Webpage Named "Mohammed Salem" Hmm!I love Obama, but I ain't no jihadist!If Obama had a son he would look like Aaron Alexis

There has been no other published indication that Aaron Alexis was a Muslim or had any interest in Islam. It may be, however, that in his delusional madness, he began to identify with the jihadists who have committed mass murder in the name of their bloodthirsty god.Law enforcement officials told NBC News that Alexis created a webpage with the name "Mohammed Salem," but they said he never did anything with it. They said they had found nothing else that might indicate any interest in violent jihad or even in Islam.

"Navy Yard gunman's mother says she is heartbroken and sorry for families," by Kyle Eppler, Pete Williams and Erin McClam for NBC News, September 18 (thanks to Darcy):The mother of Aaron Alexis, the Washington Navy Yard shooter, said Wednesday that she was heartbroken and sorry for the families of the victims and that she was glad he is "in a place where he can no longer do harm to anyone."In a brief statement to a reporter in New York, the woman, Cathleen Alexis, said her son "has murdered 12 people and wounded several others."...Authorities say they are still looking for a motive. Since Alexis carried out the attack Monday at the headquarters of the Naval Sea Systems Command, signs have emerged of a troubled history.• Alexis, who served as a naval reservist from 2007 to 2011 and worked more recently as a civilian contractor, had a military disciplinary record that included disorderly conduct, insubordination and unexcused absences.Newport, R.I., police said he called them Aug. 7 to say he had changed hotels twice because he believed people were chasing him and sending vibrations through the walls to keep him from sleeping.Police said they had forwarded their report to police at the naval station in Newport. Military officials told NBC News on Wednesday that they had found no evidence that naval police forwarded the information to any higher command outside the base.• The Department of Veterans Affairs said Wednesday that it saw Alexis twice. He went to a VA emergency room in Providence, R.I., on Aug. 23 complaining of insomnia and was given sleep medicine and told to follow up with a doctor, the agency said. Five days later, Alexis showed up at a VA emergency room in Washington to get a refill and was again encouraged to see a doctor, the VA said.The VA said Alexis denied struggling with anxiety or depression or having thoughts about hurting himself or others. It also said he enrolled in VA health care in February 2011 and never sought an appointment for mental health.• Alexis also had run-ins with the law over gun violence. He was accused in 2004 of having shot out the tires of a car in Seattle and in 2010 of having fired a gun into an upstairs apartment in Fort Worth, Texas.• Friends and relatives have also said he had a preoccupation with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, felt slighted as a veteran, had money problems and was so unhappy with his life that he considered leaving the U.S.

PUTIN: Under Your Regime America Is No Longer Exceptional, and I'm Told You've Fulfilled That AssignmentA Plea for Caution From Russia — What Putin Has to Say to Americans About Syria

MOSCOW — RECENT events surrounding Syria have prompted me to speak directly to the American people and their political leaders. It is important to do so at a time of insufficient communication between our societies.Relations between us have passed through different stages. We stood against each other during the cold war. But we were also allies once, and defeated the Nazis together. The universal international organization — the United Nations — was then established to prevent such devastation from ever happening again.The United Nations’ founders understood that decisions affecting war and peace should happen only by consensus, and with America’s consent the veto by Security Council permanent members was enshrined in the United Nations Charter. The profound wisdom of this has underpinned the stability of international relations for decades.No one wants the United Nations to suffer the fate of the League of Nations, which collapsed because it lacked real leverage. This is possible if influential countries bypass the United Nations and take military action without Security Council authorization.The potential strike by the United States against Syria, despite strong opposition from many countries and major political and religious leaders, including the pope, will result in more innocent victims and escalation, potentially spreading the conflict far beyond Syria’s borders. A strike would increase violence and unleash a new wave of terrorism. It could undermine multilateral efforts to resolve the Iranian nuclear problem and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and further destabilize the Middle East and North Africa. It could throw the entire system of international law and order out of balance.Syria is not witnessing a battle for democracy, but an armed conflict between government and opposition in a multireligious country. There are few champions of democracy in Syria. But there are more than enough Qaeda fighters and extremists of all stripes battling the government. The United States State Department has designated Al Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, fighting with the opposition, as terrorist organizations. This internal conflict, fueled by foreign weapons supplied to the opposition, is one of the bloodiest in the world.Mercenaries from Arab countries fighting there, and hundreds of militants from Western countries and even Russia, are an issue of our deep concern. Might they not return to our countries with experience acquired in Syria? After all, after fighting in Libya, extremists moved on to Mali. This threatens us all.From the outset, Russia has advocated peaceful dialogue enabling Syrians to develop a compromise plan for their own future. We are not protecting the Syrian government, but international law. We need to use the United Nations Security Council and believe that preserving law and order in today’s complex and turbulent world is one of the few ways to keep international relations from sliding into chaos. The law is still the law, and we must follow it whether we like it or not. Under current international law, force is permitted only in self-defense or by the decision of the Security Council. Anything else is unacceptable under the United Nations Charter and would constitute an act of aggression.No one doubts that poison gas was used in Syria. But there is every reason to believe it was used not by the Syrian Army, but by opposition forces, to provoke intervention by their powerful foreign patrons, who would be siding with the fundamentalists. Reports that militants are preparing another attack — this time against Israel — cannot be ignored.It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States. Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it. Millions around the world increasingly see America not as a model of democracy but as relying solely on brute force, cobbling coalitions together under the slogan “you’re either with us or against us.” But force has proved ineffective and pointless. Afghanistan is reeling, and no one can say what will happen after international forces withdraw. Libya is divided into tribes and clans. In Iraq the civil war continues, with dozens killed each day. In the United States, many draw an analogy between Iraq and Syria, and ask why their government would want to repeat recent mistakes.No matter how targeted the strikes or how sophisticated the weapons, civilian casualties are inevitable, including the elderly and children, whom the strikes are meant to protect.The world reacts by asking: if you cannot count on international law, then you must find other ways to ensure your security. Thus a growing number of countries seek to acquire weapons of mass destruction. This is logical: if you have the bomb, no one will touch you. We are left with talk of the need to strengthen nonproliferation, when in reality this is being eroded.We must stop using the language of force and return to the path of civilized diplomatic and political settlement.A new opportunity to avoid military action has emerged in the past few days. The United States, Russia and all members of the international community must take advantage of the Syrian government’s willingness to place its chemical arsenal under international control for subsequent destruction. Judging by the statements of President Obama, the United States sees this as an alternative to military action.I welcome the president’s interest in continuing the dialogue with Russia on Syria. We must work together to keep this hope alive, as we agreed to at the Group of 8 meeting in Lough Erne in Northern Ireland in June, and steer the discussion back toward negotiations.If we can avoid force against Syria, this will improve the atmosphere in international affairs and strengthen mutual trust. It will be our shared success and open the door to cooperation on other critical issues.My working and personal relationship with President Obama is marked by growing trust. I appreciate this. I carefully studied his address to the nation on Tuesday. And I would rather disagree with a case he made on American exceptionalism, stating that the United States’ policy is “what makes America different. It’s what makes us exceptional.” It is extremely dangerous to encourage people to see themselves as exceptional, whatever the motivation. There are big countries and small countries, rich and poor, those with long democratic traditions and those still finding their way to democracy. Their policies differ, too. We are all different, but when we ask for the Lord’s blessings, we must not forget that God created us equal.

I'm the Twerker-In-Chief and I'll twerk until I get my way!Putin Gets His Revenge On ObamaRussian President Vladimir Putin’s criticism of the United States in the op-ed pages of Thursday’s New York Times was a revenge of sorts on President Obama. Putin blasted notions of American "exceptionalism" and directly criticized Obama’s proposed military strikes on Syria, arguing they risked widening that country’s civil war. WATCH VIDEO“It is alarming that military intervention in internal conflicts in foreign countries has become commonplace for the United States,” Putin wrote. “Is it in America’s long-term interest? I doubt it.” The op-ed was the latest salvo in an open feud between Obama and Putin — one in which the Russian appeared this week to take an upper hand when a last-second diplomatic proposal from Russia led Obama to ask Congress to call off votes authorizing strikes against Syria.The op-ed in the Times signaled Putin’s confidence, with the pre-eminent U.S. newspaper giving Putin a global stage to offer his views on the United States and the world. Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) complained in a CNN interview Thursday that the Obama administration this week had put Putin "in a position of almost unprecedented influence in these affairs.”“I suspect he’s enjoying himself right now,” Ian Bremmer, the president of political risk consultancy the Eurasia Group, said in a conference call Wednesday reported by the Times.Obama and Putin have openly feuded for months, with Putin giving safe harbor to National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and Obama canceling a Moscow summit in return.In another shot at Putin, Obama visited gay rights activists during a trip to Russia for the G-20 summit earlier this month to call attention to a new Putin-backed law in Russia banning gay “propaganda.” The law has sparked calls for a boycott of the Winter Olympics in Sochi.Obama also cast Putin as a slouching schoolboy to the media, even as he insisted that their relationship is better than the optics suggest. The Kremlin was reportedly furious with the public remark, though Putin later downplayed it.Putin and Obama have tangled for more than a year on Syria, but Russia offered the American leader a political lifeline of sorts when it urged Syria to give up its chemical weapons to international control. Continued >>

Classless Commander Takes His Finger Off the Triggerbut Won't Keep His Feet Off the 'Resolute Desk'The priceless 'Resolute Desk' was a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880 - No signs of B.O. initials carved in desk yet.

President Obama's Favorite Footstool: The Famous Resolute DeskObama’s Foot on Oval Office Desk Sends Shockwaves Around the WorldPresident Obama sparked a stir recently on social media by being photographed with his foot on the famous Resolute desk. Shock, outrage and mocking criticism is building among conservatives — and those of other political stripes who put the White House and its possessions on a historical pedestal – over a photograph showing President Obama in an informal pose, with his foot on his Oval Office desk.The desk hails back from 1880, a gift from Britain’s Queen Victoria. And even its construction is special: It was built with wood from the sunken Arctic Rescue Ship, the HMS Resolute. But to Mr. Obama, it’s a good place to rest his feet, as The Daily Mail reported.He’s been snapped in a variety of feet-up poses – to the angst of many.And even overseas press took notice. The Israeli newspaper Ha’aretz issued this interpretation of Mr. Obama’s laid-back pose that showed the soles of his feet: “A photo released by the White House, which shows Obama talking on the phone with [Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu on Monday speaks volumes.The president is seen with his legs up on the table, his face stern and his fist clenched, as though he were dictating to Netanyahu. … As an enthusiast of Muslim culture, Obama surely knows there is no greater insult in the Middle East than pointing the soles of one’s shoes at another person. Indeed, photos of other presidential phone calls depict Obama leaning on his desk, with his feet on the floor.”

S-Y-R-I-A C-R-I-S-I-S: Obama turns decision on military action over to CongressPresident makes strong case for air strikes – but there is no guarantee the legislature will back himPulling back from the brink, a lonely President Barack Obama indicated last night that he would not order military strikes over Syria until he has received authorisation from the United States Congress – putting an unexpected brake on what had seemed like impending action.Mr Obama made clear that he had the authority to order a strike in response to the Assad regime using chemical weapons against civilians, and stands ready to do so at any time. But announcing a delay that stunned many, he pledged: “I will seek authorisation for the use of force from the American people’s representatives in Congress. We should have this debate because the issues are too big for business as usual.”In a statement from the Rose Garden that was watched by the world, Mr Obama reiterated the US intelligence conclusion that the Syrian regime was responsible for the gas attacks. “This attack is an assault on human dignity,” he declared, and warned that it could lead to escalating use of chemical weapons.“This menace must be confronted. But having made my decision as command-in-chief, I am also mindful that I am president of the world’s oldest constitutional democracy.” Continued >>

Aljazeera.com Reports: Egyptian Newspaper Says Obama is a Muslim Brotherhood Member — Too Shocking to Be True?The Director of Research at the Brookings Doha Center, Shadi Hamid, tweets out about the Egyptian media depicting Obama as a member of the Muslim Brotherhood. Newspaper also claims that son of Muslim Brotherhood leader threatened Obama with release of “papers” revealing his Muslim Brotherhood membership. (See Article Below)Detained leader Khairat Al-ShaterSon of Jailed Leader Khairat Al-Shater Says Evidence Could Put Obama in Prison — Obama's Muslim Brotherhood Membership??

By Jerome R. Corsi – The son of a jailed Muslim Brotherhood leader in Egypt is claiming his father has evidence that will land President Obama in prison.The claim came as the Obama administration, with the assistance of Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and the open involvement of the No. 2 man at the U.S. State Department, made a concerted effort to see Muslim Brotherhood leaders in Egypt released.In an interview with the News Agency Anatolia in Turkey, Saad Al-Shater, the son of imprisoned Muslim Brotherhood leader Khairat Al-Shater, said his father "had in his hand" evidence that will put Obama in prison.In a thinly veiled threat, Saad Al-Shater said a U.S. delegation was sent to Cairo by Obama to press for the release of the imprisoned Muslim Brotherhood leaders, including his father to prevent the release of explosive information.Arabic-speaking former PLO member Walid Shoebat has translated the report by the Turkish News Agency Anatolia as follows:

In an interview with the Anatolia News Agency, Saad Al-Shater, the son of a Muslim Brotherhood leader, the detaine Khairat Al-Shater, said that his father had in his hand evidence that will land the head of United States of America, President Obama, in prison. He stressed that the senior U.S. delegation currently visiting Egypt, knows full well that the fate, future, interests and reputation of their country is in the hands of his father, and they know that he owns the information, documents and recordings that incriminate and would condemn their country.Such documents, he says, were placed in the hands of people who were entrusted inside and outside Egypt, and that the release of his father is the only way for them to prevent a great catastrophe. He stated that a warning was sent threatening to show how the U.S. administration was directly connected. The evidence was sent through intermediaries which caused them to change their attitude and corrected their position, and that they have taken serious steps to prove good faith. Saad also said that his father’s safety is more important to the Americans than is the safety of Mohamed Morsi.

Writing in his blog Shoebat noted that six different Arabic sources confirmed the interview with Saad Al-Shater and the report of Al-Shater’s claims.Shoebat said the interview with Saad Al-Shater was Aug. 7, making it likely the reference to the "senior U.S. delegation currently visiting Egypt" was about the trip by McCain, Graham and U.S. Deputy Secretary of State William Burns.On Aug. 6, with interim Egyptian Vice President Mohamed ElBaradei, the former general director of the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency, McCain and Graham called Khairat Al-Shater and other jailed Muslim Brotherhood leaders "political prisoners." They told reporters in Cairo that failing to release Muslim Brotherhood prisoners would be "a huge mistake."Egypt’s interim president, Adly Mansour, rebuffed the U.S. delegation’s request, telling reporters in Cairo that it constituted an "unacceptable interference in internal politics."On Aug. 6, the Associated Press reported the Egyptian government planned to prosecute Khairat Al-Shater and the other imprisoned Muslim Brotherhood leaders on charges of inciting violence last December when Muslim Brotherhood members attacked sit-in protestors outside then-President Mohamed Morsi’s office, resulting in the deaths of 10 people.ABC News reported that Burns traveled separately late Sunday night, Aug. 4, to the notorious Tora Prison in the middle of Cairo to meet with Khairat Al-Shater, despite claims by the Muslim Brotherhood that Al-Shater refused to meet.In an Aug. 6 interview with CNN in Egypt, McCain mentioned jailed Khairat Al-Shater, an openly acknowledged Muslim Brotherhood leader, when asked about individuals who could successfully negotiate a future Egyptian government.

Mystery Grows: Michael Hastings Died Prepping Obama ExposéBreitbarted or Fosterized? If Michael had just mocked, not investigated Obama, he would be alive today!Major probe tied to agent suspected of sanitizing president's passport recordsBy Jerome Corsi – Before his death in a fiery car crash, Michael Hastings was preparing to publish a major investigative piece tied to the undercover agent who is suspected of sanitizing President Obama’s passport records prior to the 2008 presidential election.The mystery has only deepened since the Los Angeles Coroner’s Office ruled that drugs in his system at the time of the June 18 crash, including amphetamines and marijuana, likely did not contribute to the crash.

VIEW Surveillance Video of Michael Hastings Car Crash (27secs)VIEW "The Mysterious Death of Reporter Michael Hastings" (18:44 - AlexJonesChannel)Hastings, 33 years old at the time of his death, wrote for Gentleman’s Quarterly, Rolling Stone and Buzzfeed, reporting on national security issues.His June 2010 article in Rolling Stone featuring remarks highly critical of the Obama administration made by Gen. Stanley McChrystal — then the commander of allied forces in Afghanistan — led to President Obama relieving McChrystal of command.

Reported Drug UseThe autopsy two months after Hastings’ death found small amounts of amphetamine in his blood, suggesting he may have taken methamphetamine several hours before his death. Traces of marijuana also suggested Hastings had smoked the drug hours before he had taken the methamphetamine.Hastings died when his Mercedes, traveling at a high rate of speed, crossed into the median on a deserted Highland Avenue at 4:20 a.m. and struck a tree. The automobile burst into flames, charring Hastings’ body so badly that it took several days to make a positive identification.Los Angeles newspapers have suggested Hastings had become obsessed with Edward Snowden’s revelations about the National Security Agency’s massive domestic surveillance capabilities and with disclosures the Department of Justice had obtained of the phone records of Associated Press reporters.His fiancée, Jordanna Thigpen, told the LA Weekly that just before his death, Hastings’ behavior had become erratic because of his increasing concerned that helicopters commonly seen in the Hollywood Hills were spying on him and that his Mercedes had been tampered with.“He was scared, and he wanted to leave town,” Thigpen told the newspaper.She recalled that the night before his death, Hastings asked Thigpen if he could borrow her Volvo because he was afraid to drive his own car.Fox News reported family members told investigators that Hastings, who supposedly had been “sober” for 14 years, had begun using drugs the month before his death. The drugs included the hallucinogenic DMT, although it was not detected in a blood report conducted after the crash.Fox News further reported a family member told investigators Hastings was seen passed out at home about three hours before the crash and that he had been smoking marijuana the night of the crash.Investigators told Fox News that Hastings was found after the crash with a medicinal marijuana identity card in his wallet and that he apparently was using the drug to ease post-traumatic stress disorder experienced after his assignments in Afghanistan and Iraq.A security video that captured Hastings’ car crash showed a flash of light before the car hit the tree, raising suspicions Hastings’ death may have been caused by an explosion.San Diego 6 News has reported that a witness in a nearby business is claiming the explosion occurred before Hastings’ car hit the tree. An explosion before impact, which would slow down the vehicle, would explain the minimal damage observed on the palm tree. Other physical evidence at the crash site also is not consistent with a high-speed, out-of-control impact.How Easily Can a Moving Car Be Hacked?By DJ Pangburn -- Shortly after Rolling Stone contributing editor Michael Hastings died in a fiery auto crash in Los Angeles, conspiracy theories began to pop up online. The mysterious circumstances practically begged for a new brand of '70s-era Nixonian paranoia. Hastings had regularly pushed buttons in DC. The accident occurred at around 4:00 AM. Only hours earlier, Hastings had been at the sold-out premiere of friend Jeremy Scahill's Dirty Wars documentary. And, most notably, Hastings spoke to a WikiLeaks lawyer Jennifer Robinson hours before his death, then sent a panicky email to BuzzFeed staff, stating he was "onto a big story" and going off the grid for a bit.The conspiracy theory suggesting Hastings' Mercedes C250 was hacked is both extremely unlikely and near impossible to prove. That said, is such a hack even possible? Yes. Various researchers have proven that cars can be hacked. This article, however, is chiefly concerned with what types of car hacking are possible.In 2010 and 2011, researchers from the University of Washington and UC San Diego published two studies concerning vulnerabilities of car computers. The first, "Experimental Security Analysis of a Modern Automobile," focused on what could be done once a hacker gained access to a vehicle's internal network. The second, "Comprehensive Experimental Analyses of Automotive Attack Surfaces," demonstrated how a hacker could compromise a car's internal network without having any direct physical access to the car itself. Continued >>Feds Visited Michael Hastings’ House Day Before His Death — Agents Were Pursuing Rolling Stone Journalist Prior to Suspicious CrashBy Paul Joseph Watson -- Rolling Stone journalist Michael Hastings, who was killed in a suspicious car crash after complaining that he was being harassed by the FBI, had his home visited by agents from an unnamed federal agency the day before his death, a close friend of Hastings told Infowars.While it’s known that Hastings had warned others, including Wikileaks, that the FBI was on his case, the fact that feds visited the home of the controversial journalist almost immediately prior to his untimely death is yet another facet to a story which has thrown up numerous questions about the circumstances surrounding the car crash that killed Hastings in the Hancock Park neighborhood of Los Angeles on June 18.Through speaking to close friends of Hastings, Infowars has also gathered other astounding revelations about the circumstances surrounding his death that will be released in due course if those individuals are comfortable in going public.Several of Hastings’ friends and colleagues were reticent to go public with the fact that the journalist had sent an email hours before his death stating he was “onto a big story” and needed “to go off the rada[r] for a bit.”Yesterday, Hastings’ wife Elise Jordan appeared on CNN’s Piers Morgan Tonight to express the view that her husband’s death was a “tragic accident,” despite initially vowing to “take down” whoever was responsible.The LAPD’s assertion that no foul play was involved in the death of Hastings has not satisfied journalists who are being stonewalled by both police and federal agencies.Last week, investigative journalists Jason Leopold and Ryan Shapiro filed a lawsuit against the FBI after the agency’s refusal to respond to a Freedom of Information Act request which sought details on the death of the journalist.“By suing the FBI for failure to comply with the Freedom of Information Act, [we] hope to obtain records pertaining both to the unusual circumstances of Michael Hastings’s death and to the broader issue of FBI surveillance of journalists and other critics of American national security policy,” Shapiro said.Recently released surveillance camera footage which captures the crash of Hastings’ Mercedes shows three explosions before the vehicle comes to a rest, fueling speculation that some kind of incendiary device could have triggered the blasts. In at least three 911 calls, witnesses reported loud explosions accompanying the crash.Speculation has also centered around whether Hastings’ Mercedes was remotely hijacked, a technology which academic studies confirm is a fairly straightforward method of taking control of a vehicle. Former counter-terror czar Richard Clarke remarked that the crash involving Hastings was “consistent with a car cyber attack.”Hastings had made innumerable enemies in high places as a result of his controversial journalism and routinely received death threats. According to his friend Sgt. Joe Biggs, the journalist was working on “the biggest story yet” about the CIA before his death.Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.HASTINGS' CURIOUS DEATH — BACKGROUND STORY — Did CIA Pick Sanitize Obama's Passport Records?Employee breached files when 'eligibility issue' arose during 2008 campaignCIA Nominee John Brennan L(ei)utenant Quarles Harris Jr. —— One Rewarded, the Other Rubbed Out

By Jerome R. Corsi (NEW YORK) -- John Brennan, the Obama counter-terrorism adviser nominated this week to head the CIA, played a controversial role in what many suspect was an effort to sanitize Obama’s passport records.On March 21, 2008, amid Obama’s first presidential campaign, two unnamed contract employees for the State Department were fired and a third was disciplined for breaching the passport file of Democratic presidential candidate and then-Sen. Barack Obama.Breaking the story, the Washington Times on March 20, 2008, noted that all three had used their authorized computer network access to look up and read Obama’s records within the State Department consular affairs section that “possesses and stores passport information.”Contacted by the newspaper, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack attributed the violations to non-political motivations, stressing that the three individuals involved “did not appear to be seeking information on behalf of any political candidate or party.”“As far as we can tell, in each of the three cases, it was imprudent curiosity,” McCormack told the Washington Times.The spokesman did not disclose exactly how the State Department came to that conclusion. By the next day, the story had changed.The New York Times reported March 21, 2008, that the security breach had involved unauthorized searches of the passport records not just of Sen. Obama but also of then-presidential contenders Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton.Again, the New York Times attributed the breaches to “garden-variety snooping by idle employees” that was “not politically motivated.”Like the Washington Times, the New York Times gave no explanation to back up its assertion that the breaches were attributable to non-political malfeasance.Still, the New York Times report indicated then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had spent Friday morning calling all three presidential candidates and that she had told Obama that she was sorry for the violation.“I told him that I myself would be very disturbed if I learned that somebody had looked into my passport file,” Rice said.The newspaper quoted Obama as saying he appreciated the apology but that he expected the passport situation “to be investigated diligently and openly.”According to the New York Times report, Obama’s tone of concern was obvious.“One of the things that the American people count on in their interactions with any level of government is that if they have to disclose personal information, that is going to stay personal and stay private,” Obama told reporters. “And when you have not just one, but a series of attempts to tap into people’s personal records, that’s a problem, not just for me, but for how our government is functioning.”The New York Times noted that the files examined likely contained sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers, addresses and dates of birth, as well as passport applications and other biographical information that would pertain to U.S. citizenship. Only at the end of the article did the New York Times note that State Department spokesman McCormack had emphasized the most egregious violation appeared to have been made against Obama.Obama was the only one of the three presidential candidates involved who had his passport file breached on three separate occasions. The first occurred Jan. 9, 2008, followed by separate violations Feb. 21 and March 14, 2008. Moreover, all three of the offending employees had breached Obama’s files, while each of the passport files of McCain and Clinton had been breached only once.

The Brennan ConnectionThe New York Times noted the two offending State Department contract employees who were fired had worked for Stanley Inc., a company based in Arlington, Va., while the reprimanded worker continued to be employed by the Analysis Corporation of McLean, Va.The newspaper gave no background on either corporation, other than to note that Stanley Inc. did “computer work for the government.”At that time, Stanley Inc. was a 3,500-person technology firm that had just won a $570-million contract to provide computer-related passport services to the State Department.Analysis Corporation was headed by Brennan, a former CIA agent who was then serving as an adviser on intelligence and foreign policy to Sen. Obama’s presidential campaign.After Obama’s inauguration, Brennan joined the White House as assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for homeland security and counter-terrorism.By March 22, 2008, the Washington Times reported that the State Department investigation had focused on the contract worker for the Analysis Corporation, because he was the only one of the three involved in breaching the passport records of both Obama and McCain, the two presidential candidates whose eligibility as “natural born” citizens under Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution were in question.Keeping with the theme that the motive for the passport breach was attributable to mischief, the three State Department contract employees received relatively light penalties for their offenses – two were fired and one was reprimanded.Although at the time the State Department promised a full-scale investigation, the public was kept in the dark.In July 2008, the State Department’s Office of Inspector General issued a 104-page investigative report on the passport breach incidents, stamped “Sensitive But Unclassified.” The report was so heavily redacted, it was virtually useless to the public. Scores of passages were blacked out entirely, including one sequence of 29 consecutive pages that were each obliterated by a solid black box that made it impossible even to determine paragraph structures.Investigative reporter Kenneth Timmerman saida well-placed but unnamed source told him that the real point of the passport breach incidents was to cauterize the Obama file, removing from it any information that could prove damaging to his eligibility to be president.According to the theory, the breaches of McCain’s and Clinton’s files were done for misdirection purposes, to create confusion and to suggest the motives of the perpetrators were attributable entirely to innocent curiosity.

Another Thief Enters the CaseWithin a few days, a new witness surfaced unexpectedly, providing evidence that breaching passport files was an offense being perpetrated by State Department officials on a massive and everyday basis.The case centered on L(ei)utenant Quarles Harris Jr., age 24. Harris, who spelled his named differently than the officer rank, was a petty drug dealer and identity-theft criminal who never served in the military or in any police or fire department.On March 25, 2008, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Officer William A. Smith Jr. of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s Narcotics Special Investigation Division stopped an oncoming vehicle that had tinted windows he believed were in violation of the D.C. Tinted Window Act of 1994.After stopping the vehicle, Smith found the driver, Harris, and his female passenger had been smoking marijuana. Harris had stuffed in his jacket pocket a large clear zip-lock bag containing 13 smaller clear zip-lock bags, each filled with marijuana.The affidavit of criminal complaint filed by Smith with the U.S. District Court specified that in the search of the vehicle, the officers found 19 different credit cards with names different from Harris and his female passenger. Also discovered were eight State Department passport applications, also in names different from Harris and his female passenger.The officers further discovered four of the names on the passport applications matched the names on the credit cards. A check with American Express while Harris was still on the scene of the traffic stop indicated that some of the American Express cards in his possession, but not in his name, had recently been used and that American Express had placed a “fraud alert” on the cards.Smith brought Harris to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Sixth District, where agents of the U.S. Secret Service, the State Department and the U.S. Postal Service questioned him. Harris’ involvement in passport application theft clearly made him no ordinary petty criminal.According to the criminal complaint filed by Smith, Harris admitted under questioning that he obtained the passport information from an unnamed co-conspirator working at the State Department. The complaint said the passport applications were used to obtain credit cards in the names of the passport applicants.Another unnamed co-conspirator working at the U.S. Postal Service intercepted the issued credit cards before they were delivered to the residences of the persons named on the cards.What was clear from Harris’ statements was that breaching passport records at the State Department had developed into major criminal activity conducted on a continuing basis by State Department employees with access to the State Department’s Passport Information Electronic Records System, commonly known by the acronym PIERS.What also was clear was that Harris had information related to the State Department employees who had breached Obama’s passport records and that he was cooperating with government officials.Despite the objection of the prosecutors, the judge at his arraignment released Harris the next day on personal recognizance. He was ordered to return to court for a hearing in June 2008.

Key Witness MurderedHowever, Harris did not live to attend the court hearing.On April 18, 2008, he was found murdered in Washington, D.C., by a single bullet to the head in what appeared to be a drive-by shooting.The Washington Times reported April 19, 2008, that a “key witness in a federal probe into passport information stolen from the State Department was fatally shot in front of a District church” at close range, around 11 p.m., in the 2800 block of 12th Street NE, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.Harris, who the Washington Times described as “cooperating with federal investigators,” was found slumped dead at the steering wheel of his car in front of the Judah House Praise Baptist Church in the northeast section of D.C., according to Commander Michael Anzallo, the head of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division.A police officer patrolling the neighborhood at the time of Harris’ death heard gunshots and ran to the scene, only to find Harris dead inside his car. The Metropolitan Police admitted a “shot spotter” device had been used to locate Harris in the shooting, although police officials declined to say whether his death was a direct result of his cooperation with federal investigators.There is no evidence that today links Harris’ crimes or murder with the breach of Obama’s passport records by State Department contract employees.At first glance, Harris could be dismissed as a foot-soldier selling marijuana and peddling credit cards fraudulently obtained via passport-related identity theft.Yet there is more to the story than petty criminal activity. Obviously, Harris got himself in way over his head when he decided to work with the State Department officials accessing PIERS to obtain passport records without authorization.Equally obvious was that by being willing to cooperate with police, Harris risked becoming a threat to his accomplices and co-conspirators within the State Department.ABC news affiliate WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., reported Cleopatria Harris, the mother of Leiutenant Quarles Harris, believed her son was murdered to keep him from cooperating with the federal investigation into the passport-record breach. She told the TV station her son was in court three days before his murder.“He felt like he was going to do jail time. He was willing to do jail time,” she said, indicating that she believed news reports that her son had been arrested and was cooperating with the police were the reason he was killed. “Yes I do. think it had a hell of a lot to do with it. [The story] made my son appear to be a snitch.”Similarly, the Washington Post reported Cleopatria Harris was “absolutely sure” her son was killed because of his involvement in the passport-credit card scam.Harris’ mother refused to believe her son’s murder was an act of violence unrelated to the passport scheme. Instead, she contended he was killed because he was an important witness regarding a State Department breach of passport records.To date, the D.C. Metropolitan Police have no suspects in the still unsolved murder of Leiutenant Quarles Harris Jr. Nor has the State Department ever revealed publicly what was discovered in the breach of Obama’s passport records. The three individuals involved in the breach have never come forward in public to tell what they found.

Obama Discloses Trip to PakistanBut this is not the end of the story. Two weeks after the report that Obama’s passport records had been breached, candidate Obama made the surprising disclosure at a private fundraiser April 7, 2008, that he had traveled to Pakistan during his college years.Jake Tapper, then senior White House correspondent for ABC News, commented that Obama’s disclosure that he had taken a college trip to Pakistan was “news to most of us.” Tapper said “it was odd we hadn’t heard about it before, given all the talk of Pakistan during this campaign.”Tapper reported that, according to the Obama campaign, Obama visited Pakistan in 1981, the year he transferred from Occidental College to Columbia University, and that he had visited his mother and sister Maya in Indonesia on the same trip.Why was Obama disclosing now, for the first time, that he had traveled to Pakistan with his roommates from Occidental College?Did Obama use an Indonesian passport to travel to Indonesia and Pakistan in 1981, and was he concerned the breach of his passport records might end up disclosing such information, if true?The attempt to preempt such a disclosure might explain the timing of Obama’s decision to suddenly reveal, at least to the friends assembled for the fundraiser, the previously undisclosed trip to Indonesia and Pakistan.“I traveled to Pakistan when I was in college,” Obama is heard saying on the poor-quality audiotape that survives from the San Francisco fundraiser. “I knew what Sunni and Shia was [sic] before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

If George Bush Had a Son,He'd Look Like ChristopherWhen will Obama speak out about Chris' murder!?!James Edwards, 15 -- Michael Dewayne Jones, 17 -- Chancey Luna, 16 (Mullato)The thug on right has been declared "white" by the lyin' leftist MSM, buthe's really halfrican or mullato — like Obama, has a white momma.

By Taleeb Starkes -- Imagine the Left's reaction if the shocking, inter-racial murder of Christopher Lane had occurred when George W. Bush was president and he had stated, "If I had a son, he'd look like Christopher," or "Christopher Lane could've been me 35 years ago." Undoubtedly, the race-peddlers and entire grievance industry would've interpreted his comments as a subtle war declaration against Black America. Yet, when President Obama made these statements about Trayvon Martin, the Lefties claimed that he wasn't being divisive, he was simply "keepin' it real."The racial dynamics of both Christopher Lane and Trayvon Martin's scenarios have many people focusing on the similarities. I, on the other hand, see stark contrasts.Unlike Trayvon Martin, Christopher Lane doesn't have powerful, race-baiting allies in the Oval Office, Justice Department, media, and entertainment industry. Assuredly, General Holder will not use Chris Lane's senseless murder as a catalyst to pursue his often-requested national race dialogue. Nope. Nor will the Justice Department zealously create a tips hotline (in Zimmerman-like fashion) to build an airtight case against the Chris Lane's shooter for a civil rights violation or hate crime, even though the alleged gunman oncetweeted, "90% of white ppl are nasty. #HATE THEM."15-year-old James Edwards, Jr. also tweeted "Ayeee I knocked out 5 woods since Zimmerman court!" And the worst tweet: "With my n****s when it's time to start taken life's" -- a line from the Chief Keef rap song, "I Don't Like."There will not be nationwide "stop the violence" marches with fed-up participants wearing baseball hats to honor Chris Lane. In fact, this generic tweet from Jesse Jackson, which was likely written by his public relations aides, is all that Chris Lane's parents are likely to receive. It stated, "Praying for the family of Chris Lane. This violence is frowned upon and the justice system must prevail." Apparently, the deepest emotion that this so-called human rights activist was able to muster for Chris Lane was a figurative frown. This guy is such a phony!Unlike Trayvon Martin's parents, no mainstream American publication will feature Chris Lane's parents and siblings on its cover with the caption "We Are Chris." Nor will any mainstream publication with a majority White readership use his death to launch a "Save our Sons" campaign, despite the statistical fact that more Whites are killed annually by Blacks than Blacks are killed by Whites. Opportunistic celebrities will not elevate Chris Lane to cultural icon status and the Smithsonian Institution will not consider incorporating any of his jogging apparel from the murder scene into its historic catalogue. Even Oklahoma's Stand Your Ground laws have escaped Florida-like scrutiny because Chris Lane never had a chance to stand his ground.In summation, Chris Lane is not so analogous to Trayvon Martin. Chris Lane's story actually parallels Patrick Mahaney.Who is Patrick Mahaney? Unsurprisingly, the public doesn't remember Patrick Mahaney and predictably, the American mainstream media will ensure that Chris Lane also won't be remembered. Although Patrick Mahaney was in a different city than Chris Lane when he had a similar encounter with "bored" teenagers, the callousness was the same. According to the New York Daily News"Six teens were arrested Sunday after beating a man unconscious in a Cincinnati suburb - because they were bored and looking for something to do. Pat Mahaney, 45, of North College Hill, landed in the hospital after a vicious attack that left him with a black eye and severe internal injuries. He was hurt so badly that his stomach filled with blood that required a tube down his throat to drain."Both attacks occurred in the month of August roughly a year apart. However, Chris Lane died on the scene whereas Patrick suffered for eleven months before dying last month (July 2013). Another consistency between Chris Lane and Patrick Mahaney's tragedies is the perpetrators' behavior after detainment. The police in both cases stated that the juvenile delinquents were arrogant, maintained their bravado, and lacked remorse for their criminality.America had better realize that this cavalier behavior isn't an anomaly. These sociopathic tendencies are religiously embraced by a criminal subculture within the Black community whose idea of recreation is to wreck-creation. Sadistic activities such as "Knock-out King," "Polar Bear Hunting," "Apple Picking" etc. are favorite pastimes in urban America. Unfortunately, the destructive tenets of this dysfunctional subculture have now manifested in Duncan, Oklahoma, where Blacks are a mere three-percent of its population.If society doesn't deal harshly with this anti-social, Black subculture that's empowered by liberal policies and excused by liberal sympathizers, we will see a significant increase of deaths and/or injuries stemming from "boredom." Advisedly, with Obama at the helm for the next few years, George Bush's sons may want to keep an eye out for Obama sons.P.O.S. Dueling Reverends Sharpton & Jackson: No Comparison to the Trayvon Shooting —Even Though One Was Self-Defense and the Other Was Cold-Blooded SlaughterProminent civil-rights leaders and reverends Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton pushed back against comparisons between Trayvon Martin’s death and that of Australian college baseball player Christopher Lane on MSNBC yesterday. Jackson, for example, agreed that some people are making a "false equivalency" between Lane and Martin. He accused them of ignoring or forgetting about shootings that took place in Tulsa, Okla., by white gunmen on black residents last year."There are no winners in any of this sickness," he added. "There’s simply, in our country, too much violence and too much hate, and we need to address it." He called on other spiritual leaders to speak out against these acts of violence.Earlier in the week, Jackson tweeted he was praying for Lane’s family, and that the "senseless violence" should be "frowned upon." Later in the evening, Sharpton wrapped up his show by saying he hasn’t spoken out about Lane’s murder because, "I protest when I’m called in and there’s an injustice." He also stated that authorities have not described any racial motivations in the killing (an FBI report indicated that Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, was not racially motivated either), and pointed out that the driver of the car was white. [Correction: Mullato]Sharpton singled out Fox News, calling it a "wrong source," for attempting to tie the two cases together.Oklahoma P.O.S Prosecutor Jason Hicks: No Race Motive in Australian Murder — Their Target Could Just as Easily Have Been a RaccoonU.S. prosecutors handling the case of two black teenagers accused of shooting dead a white Australian baseball player said Friday there was no evidence to suggest the killing was racially-motivated.The murder of Chris Lane, 22, in the small Oklahoma town of Duncan has triggered a race debate in America after it emerged that one of the victim's alleged killers had posted racist comments on Twitter earlier this year.Several commentators have questioned why authorities had not pressed to have hate crime charges added to the indictment of James Edwards, 15, and Chancey Luna, 16, who are both charged with murder.However Stephens County District Attorney Jason Hicks said while authorities were aware of the comments made by Edwards, there was not enough evidence to pursue extra charges."At this point, the evidence does not support the theory that Christopher Lane was targeted based upon his race or nationality," Hicks said in a statement."The evidence is insufficient to establish that race was the primary motive in the murder of Christopher Lane."In separate posts on Twitter earlier this year, Edwards spoke of his "hatred" of white people. "90% of white ppl are nasty. #HATE THEM," read one tweet.In another post Edwards claimed to have assaulted several "woods" -- a derogatory slang term for white people -- following the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the killing of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida. Hicks later reiterated to CNN that he did not believe the crime was racially motivated.He noted that Luna came from a mixed race family, and that the third teenager arrested with the duo, 17-year-old Michael Dewayne Jones, was white."I have nothing in my files, paperwork or audio recordings that suggest that Christopher Lane was killed because of his race or nationality," Hicks said on CNN.Hey Obama . . . Delbert's Family Awaits Your 'Condolences Phone Call'88 Year-Old Veteran Wounded at Battle of Okinawa Succumbs to Savage Pummeling by Feral Spokane ThugsSPOKANE, Wash. - Delbert Belton, 88, succumbed to his injuries Thursday morning at Sacred Heart Medical Center.Witnesses say Belton was in the parking lot of the Eagles Lodge at 6410 N. Lidgerwood, adjacent to the Eagles Ice-A-Rena, around 8 p.m. Wednesday when the two male suspects attacked him as he was about to head inside to play pool.

Our Close-Up Surveillance Photo of One Homicide Suspect (Let's get him for Mr. Belton!)VIDEO: WWII vet, beaten by teens outside Eagles Lodge, diesPolice responded with K-9s to track the suspects' scent but were not able to locate them."It does appear random. He was in the parking lot, it appears he was assaulted in the parking lot and there was no indication that he would have known these people prior to the assault," Spokane Police Major Crimes Detective Lieutenant Mark Griffiths said.Belton died from his injuries Thursday morning at Sacred Heart Medical Center."Shorty," as he was known by his friends at the Eagles Lodge, served in the U.S. Army in the Pacific during WWII and was shot in the leg during the Battle of Okinawa. He went on to work at Kaiser Aluminum at the company's Trentwood plant for more than 30 years. Belton's wife passed away several years ago.He loved playing pool, even though he claimed he was no good at it and had been a member of the Eagles Lodge for the last four months. In addition to playing pool he loved working on cars.Shorty was Ted Denison's best friend of 23 years; the two played pool occasionally and worked on cars daily."He was always there for me when I needed him," Denison said. "We'd joke back and forth. We were always having fun, some sort of fun."He was the kind of nice old man who'd become your friend in minutes."Probably every time I come into town, he'd have a project for me to do," Denison said. "I thought of him more as a dad than I did a friend really."Now, with the suspects still at large and the Spokane Police Department working to track them down, Shorty's friends are hoping for justice."I don't understand how somebody could do this. I really don't," Denison said.Spokane police are looking for two male suspects in the attack. They said the suspects are African Americans between 16 and 19 years old. One suspect was described as heavy set and wearing all black clothing. The other was described as being about 6 feet tall and 150 pounds. There was no description of what clothing the second suspect was wearing other than a silk do-rag.Police investigating the deadly attack on Belton have also obtained surveillance footage from the scene.One Thug in Custody, Second Arrest Appears Imminent!TWEET FROM ALEX ROZIER: Looking at Demetruis Glenn's criminal history: malicious mischief 3rd,4th degree assault, driving w/o license. Glenn also had an issue involving "riot with a deadly weapon."BREAKING UPDATE FROM ALEX ROZIER: The 16-year-old arrested in the Delbert Belton case is identified as Demetruis Glenn, he's facing 1st degree murder and robbery.We're told by juvenile court officials that if the court decides to charge Glenn as an adult then he may make his first appearance on Monday.Glenn, as of now, is on the juvenile docket for today facing 1st Degree Murder and 1st degree Robbery.The other man police were/are searching for, was born in '97, and our sources tell us he was suspected of driving a stolen vehicle overnight.Both Glenn and the other suspect in this case have juvenile criminal history.BREAKING NEWS: Major crimes investigators have just confirmed that one teenager has been arrested in the beating death of WWII veteran Delbert Belton. One suspect remains on the loose. Charges of 1st degree murder and 1st degree robbery pending.At this hour we don't know which of the suspects pictured has been caught, we are awaiting more details from Spokane Police.UPDATE: Press Release From The Spokane Police Department:Spokane Police release surveillance photos of persons of interest in the homicide of an 88 year old man, occurring in N. Spokane last night. Anyone with information about either of the suspects is asked to call Crime Check at 456-2233. On 08-21-13 around 8:15pm Spokane Police responded to Eagles Lodge, 6410 N Lidgerwood on a call of an assault.When officers responded they located a 88 year-old man in his car with serious injuries to his head. He was transported to the hospital where he died as a result of his injuries. Spokane Police are looking for two suspects in the incident. They are described by witnesses as young African American males of average build.Major Crimes Detectives are investigating the incident and are asking anyone with information to call Crime Check at 456-2233.

'Black Mob Violence' – the Forbidden WordsThe killing of Australian just 1 of hundreds of similar attacksBy Colin Flaherty -- The murder of the Australian man in Oklahoma was horrific, but not unique. Or even rare.A similar episode of black mob violence happened just a few days ago in Memphis. And a few days before that in St. Paul. And before that in Burlington. And before that in Delaware, New Haven, Madison, Denver, Flint, Peoria, Springfield, Greensboro, Green Bay, and on and on and on.This is a long list with more than 500 cases of recent black mob violence in more than 100 cities, big and small, many on video – and all unreported as being part of an epidemic of black mob violence throughout America."Beat Whitey Night," for example: Two summers ago, black mobs beat and robbed dozens of patrons at the Iowa State Fair for three nights in a row. They also attacked police. Ever hear about it?Didn’t think so. That is because most editors are not comfortable with the words "black mob violence." No matter that black mob violence exists plainly and exponentially out of proportion.This reluctance is curious in the most race conscious country in the world. Every day we read about the black caucus, black colleges, black labor unions, black doctors, black lawyers, black business owners, black TV stars. Many of these stories are written by members of the National Association of Black Journalists.But these same hyper-racial reporters go blind when it comes to widespread and frequent and sometimes even fatal black mob violence. The psychiatrists say we are only as sick as our secrets. And nothing inspires more secrecy – and sickness – than racial violence and lawlessness.Before I wrote "White Girl Bleed a Lot: The return of racial violence and how the media ignore it," I had no idea how bad it was. Neither did Thomas Sowell before he read it: "Colin Flaherty’s book made painfully clear to me that the magnitude of this problem is greater than I had discovered from my own research. He documents both the race riots and the media and political evasions in dozens of cities."Sowell wrote that last year. It is much worse now. I know that because people from all over the country tell me, especially cops. They send links and videos and case numbers and mug shots and inside info that does not appear in the local press.Sometimes the black mobs are small, as is the case in Oklahoma where two black people stalked and killed the Australian Chris Lane because they said they were bored. Sometimes they are large: As was the case earlier this month in St. Paul, where a mob of 100 beat and stomped Ray Widstrand into a coma, with permanent brain damage, if he survives.Sometimes the black mob violence is so common, like Baltimore, that reporters tell us we should learn to live with it.Sometimes the violence is marked by hate and vitriol spoken aloud. But not usually. In New London earlier this year, six black people were sentenced for killing Matthew Chew. They said they were bored. Near Cincinnati last year, a black mob beat a man comatose. It took him a year to die. The black people involved said they were bored, too. Sound familiar?The busiest day, by far, for black mob violence is the Fourth of July. This year, we saw dozens of examples of violence, theft and chaos during our nation’s annual celebration of freedom. In Wilmington, Del., groups of black people threw M-80 explosive devices at police cars. Yes, the police were still in them.In Greensboro, the city council held an emergency meeting on July 3 to prepare for the racial mayhem that has become a regular feature of their lives. Their curfew did not work. And now residents of a town people used to compare to Mayberry wonder if their city is turning into the next Detroit.In Virginia Beach earlier this summer, black party promoters sent buses to black colleges and filled the streets of this usually quiet beach town with 40,000 black people bent on mayhem. In one six hour period, police received more than 900 emergency calls to 911. Some for shooting. Some for violence. Some for theft. Some for drugs. Some for guns. Lots on video.No one carried a sign that said Burn Baby Burn. Or Down with Honkies. So editors behave like the one in Norfolk last year, who said that he had no evidence that the 50 to 100 black people who surrounded and beat his reporters were "racially motivated."That lack of evidence did not stop newspapers around the world from reporting the acquittal of George Zimmerman for the killing of Trayvon Martin meant that it was now "open season on black people."Let’s give the trolls their due: By itself, each incident is small. Even the killings. But together, they build a pattern that sometimes makes it impossible for even the most obtuse editor to ignore.That happened a few weeks ago when the local Fox affiliate belled the cat in Baltimore: The news report actually stated that mobs of black people were responsible for a wave of violence and theft in and around downtown. And that one of Baltimore’s largest employers was thinking about leaving the area because of this danger.This story echoed Maryland state legislator Pat McDonough, who said black youths were "terrorizing" the upscale Inner Harbor.McDonough asked the governor to declare the area a "No Travel" zone until the black mob violence stopped. The state’s liberal media and political establishment roared in outrage at McDonough. Not because he was wrong, but because he noticed.The same day the Baltimore Sun unleashed an attack on McDonough, the downtown experienced three more attacks of black mob violence and theft.Last year in Minneapolis, black mobs were involved in dozens of attacks downtown and at the Mall of America, many on video. One left a local artist with permanent brain damage. When I asked the local police department if race played any role in this violence, the spokesman was indignant: They did not notice what race the predators were, he said curtly.This, of course, is the same police department that on its website offers "protected minorities" special help, special test taking, special opportunities for advancement for those who want to join the police force. Lots of cities do that. Most, in fact.Editors and mayors may be loathe to admit it, but people responsible for the violence revel in it. They make music videos of it. They brag about it on Facebook and Twitter.Ask a cop; they know. Cops on the beat are heroes. They wonder why the people running their departments are so busy excusing, condoning and ignoring black mob violence. And Chicago is second to no city in that department.On Memorial Day two summers ago, 1,000 black people invaded North City Beach: assaulting, destroying property, pushing people off bikes. The city closed the beach the next day, citing a heat wave. Other nearby beaches remained open.Local residents took to talk radio, telling station WLS about the racial violence. The radio station grabbed the 911 calls and the people of Chicago learned the truth: Their city was under assault from black mobs. City officials were not being honest about it. And local media were going along with it.In Philadelphia, during one of the dozens of racial attacks, a white businessman was on the ground, getting kicked and punched. "Why are you doing this?" he screamed."It’s not our fault you can’t fight," said one of the attackers, described only as an "unruly teen."A few months later, a public health worker from a local university set out to investigate the violence: "Its just kids blowing off some steam," he told a medical journal.I was recently on a talk radio show where the host invited me to remind her listeners about how I wrote a story that got a black man out of prison. He had been convicted of trying to kill his white girlfriend. I showed it was not true. The story made national news in places like NPR, the Los Angeles Times and Court TV.The host said she wanted to inoculate me against charges of racism. I don’t play that game. I’m just a guy watching a car crash and wondering why everyone is trying to convince me there is no car crash."White Girl Bleed a Lot" is not about grand theories. Or big solutions. Or apologies.Nevertheless, its amazing how often people try to flip the script: How they try and turn the predators into victims and the victims into the real predators.The thousands and thousands of videos of black mob violence are making it almost impossible to play that game anymore. It was never any fun to begin with.Colin Flaherty is an award-winning reporter and author.Black mobs routinely terrorize cities across the country, but the media and government are silent. Read the detailed account of rampant racial crime in "White Girl Bleed a Lot: The Return of Race Riots to America"

Developing Stories on the Surveillance Industrial Complex . . .

Secret FISA Court Rebuked N.S.A. for Violating the ConstitutionNational Security Agency. Lawless, corrupt and dangerous to Americans — and it may be too late!NSA Caught Illegally Searching Emails of Americans for Three YearsWASHINGTON -- A federal judge sharply rebuked the National Security Agency in 2011 for repeatedly misleading the court that oversees its surveillance on domestic soil, including a program that is collecting tens of thousands of domestic e-mails and other Internet communications of Americans each year, according to a secret ruling made public on Wednesday. ■ Document: Judge’s Opinion on N.S.A. ProgramThe 85-page ruling by Judge John D. Bates, then serving as chief judge on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, involved an N.S.A. program that systematically searches the contents of Americans’ international Internet communications, without a warrant, in a hunt for discussions about foreigners who have been targeted for surveillance.The Justice Department had told Judge Bates that N.S.A. officials had discovered that the program had also been gathering domestic messages for three years. Judge Bates found that the agency had violated the Constitution and declared the problems part of a pattern of misrepresentation by agency officials in submissions to the secret court.The release of the ruling, the subject of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit, was the latest effort by the Obama administration to gain control over revelations about N.S.A. surveillance prompted by leaks by the former agency contractor Edward J. Snowden.The collection is part of a broader program under a 2008 law that allows warrantless surveillance on domestic networks as long as it is targeted at noncitizens abroad. The purely domestic messages collected in the hunt for discussions about targeted foreigners represent a relatively small percentage of what the ruling said were 250 million communications intercepted each year in that broader program.While the N.S.A. fixed problems with how it handled those purely domestic messages to the court’s satisfaction, the 2011 ruling revealed further issues.“The court is troubled that the government’s revelations regarding N.S.A.’s acquisition of Internet transactions mark the third instance in less than three years in which the government has disclosed a substantial misrepresentation regarding the scope of a major collection program,” Judge Bates wrote.One of the examples, was redacted in the ruling. Another involved a separate N.S.A. program that keeps logs of all domestic phone calls, which the court approved in 2006 and which came to light in June as a result of leaks by Mr. Snowden. Continued >>

Edward Snowden Leaks Again —And It's a BombshellNew Docs Show That We Don't Even Know What We Don't Know!In 2008, the National Security Agency illicitly—if accidentally—intercepted a “large number” of phone calls from Washington, D.C. because an error confused Egypt’s country code—“20”—with, yes, “202.”That fact, one of many startling ones from Barton Gellman’s new blockbuster Washington Post story based on documents given to him by Edward Snowden, is so catchy and memorable that I almost worry about it. That is, I worry people will just think of that and fail to grasp that this was actually one of the more anodyne NSA abuses revealed by these newly disclosed top-secret documents, including an internal audit. In fact, in the year preceding the May 2012 audit, there were 2,776 violations (another eye-grabber, suggestively alike the totemic 1,776).I think more troubling is that the NSA deliberately fed international communications (which it is permitted to monitor in certain ways) through U.S. fiber-optic cables, commingling those kosher foreign emails with domestic ones—which the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (or FISC, and it is generally a rubber stamp) ruled unconstitutional.I also think more troubling is that last year, the NSA retained more than 3,000 files of telephone call records in defiance of an FISC order (!). How many calls involving how many people were on each file is unknown, by the way.I think it is pretty messed up that all of this information solely concerns violations that occurred at the NSA’s headquarters in Maryland. “Three government officials, speak­ing on the condition of anonymity to discuss classified matters, said the number [of violations] would be substantially higher if it included other NSA operating units and regional collection centers,” Gellman reports.Here’s the audit, for those not faint of heart or jargon (an appendix is provided).There is a valuable, vital debate to be had over how much the federal government, in its intelligence programs, ought to be permitted to violate Americans’ privacy in an effort to protect Americans from a dangerous world that includes people who want to kill Americans. Continued >>Lawmakers, Privacy Groups Rattled by Latest NSA RevealThe Guardian newspaper's editor says British authorities destroyed an unspecified number of its hard drives in an apparent attempt to keep secrets leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden from Chinese spies. Alan Rusbridger made the claim in an opinion piece published Monday on the Guardian's website, saying that a pair of staffers from British eavesdropping agency GCHQ monitored the process in what he called "one of the more bizarre moments in the Guardian's long history." He said the hard drives were torn apart in the basement of the Guardian's north London office with "two GCHQ security experts. Continued >>Q. & A.: Edward Snowden Speaks to Peter MaassIn the course of reporting his profile of Laura Poitras, Peter Maass conducted an encrypted question-and-answer session, for which Poitras served as intermediary, with Edward J. Snowden. Below is a full transcript of that conversation. Peter Maass: Why did you seek out Laura and Glenn, rather than journalists from major American news outlets (N.Y.T., W.P., W.S.J. etc.)? In particular, why Laura, a documentary filmmaker?. Continued >>Guardian Chief Says UK Destroyed Hard Drives to Stop Snowden SecretsThe Guardian newspaper's editor says British authorities destroyed an unspecified number of its hard drives in an apparent attempt to keep secrets leaked by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden from Chinese spies. Alan Rusbridger made the claim in an opinion piece published Monday on the Guardian's website, saying that a pair of staffers from British eavesdropping agency GCHQ monitored the process in what he called "one of the more bizarre moments in the Guardian's long history." He said the hard drives were torn apart in the basement of the Guardian's north London office with "two GCHQ security experts. Continued >>

19BOOK: 'Impeachable Offenses" Makes a Case For Impeaching Barack ObamaOver Benghazi, Health Care Reform, Immigration and Spying Scandals ■ Book from best-selling conservative authors lays out 'a blueprint for drafting articles of impeachment' ■ They claim the Benghazi outpost was involved in illegal arms transfers to Syrian rebels, akin to the Iran-Contra scandal ■ Obamacare may be constitutional, they say, but the president's men have steamrolled Congress by rewriting portions on their own ■ 'Executive amnesties' of illegal immigrants, write Aaron Klein and Brenda Elliott, may be impeachable end-runs around legislators ■ The Florida-based National Black Republican Association released a list of proposed Articles of Impeachment on Tuesday

By David Martosko -- Barack Obama should be the second president from the Democratic Party to be impeached in less than 15 years, say the authors of 'Impeachable Offenses,' a book by Aaron Klein and Brenda Elliott due out August 27th that will turn heads all over Washington, D.C.In a lengthy indictment of President Barack Obama, two best-selling authors argue in a forthcoming book that the current occupant of the White House has committed numerous 'high crimes and misdemeanors' that could justify his impeachment and removal from office.'Consider this book to be ... a blueprint for drafting articles of impeachment,' author Aaron Klein told MailOnline, which exclusively reviewed a copy of his 'Impeachable Offenses,' a book co-authored with Brenda Elliott.'It is up to the public and ultimately up to to their elected representatives,' he said, 'to decide what to do next.'Obama's actions, the authors write, include sanctioning an alleged 'arms-to-jihadist-rebels scheme' in Benghazi, Libya that 'aided an Islamist revolution and armed our most dangerous al-Qaeda enemies,' Those terror groups include al-Qaeda militants fighting alongside Syrian rebels trying to topple dictator Bashar al-Assad.The now-infamous 'Operation Fast and Furious' gun-walking program, as described in the book, was a stealth effort to generate new rationales for limiting U.S. citizens' purchases of rifles and other long guns. And massive government purchases of handgun ammunition, the authors argue, was an attempt to limit the exercise of Second Amendment rights by 'dry[ing] up the ammo supply.'Klein and Elliott – like a growing proportion of Americans, polls show – are dismissive of the Obama administration's international drone campaign, and question 'the legality of leading a US-NATO military campaign against Muammar Gaddafi’s regime without congressional approval.'Act constitutional, the way the Obama administration is implementing the law is not.They are most critical of the Affordable Care Act – Obamacare – a position that repeated polling indicates most Americans share.President Obama's signature legislative achievement, they write, 'not only is unconstitutional but also illegally bypasses Congress, infringes on states’ rights, and marks an unprecedented and unauthorized expansion of Internal Revenue Service (IRS) power, constituting a clear case of 'taxation without representation' – one of the primary reasons for the American Revolution.'They also slam the president for green-lighting an 'unconstitutional war' in Libya, for funneling billions of 'clean energy' dollars to 'cronies,' and for instituting the Transportation Security Administration – now familiar to airline travelers everywhere – as an 'alternative federal police force' that operates 'in violation of the Constitution.''Impeachable Offenses' consists largely of a laundry list of well-worn conservative complaints about the White House and its current occupant. But unlike quick-hit blogs and short investigative series that have dominated right-wing grievances against President Obama, it defends its collected beef with more than 60 pages of footnotes and a systematic connect-the-dots exercise that the president's defenders will find troublesome.'President Obama has clearly violated the limits of his office and the powers granted to him by the United States Constitution,' said Klein, who, along with Elliott, has already penned two New York Times best-sellers.The authors claim that when terrorists attacked the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya nearly a year ago, the facility was involved in illegally transferring military hardware to rebels in Syria.Aaron Klein hosts the #1-rated weekend radio show in New York City. Brenda Elliott is a historian who created the anti-Obama blogs TheRealBarackObama and RezkoWatchKlein also hosts a highly rated weekend program WABC in New York City, 'Aaron Klein Investigative Radio.''He has done serious and sustained damage to American society,' Klein said of Obama. 'Impeachment is a serious charge, not something to be used for factional gain or partisan politics. I believe impeachment is warranted.'Not so, an administration official told MailOnline on Wednesday, speaking on background.'Impeachable Offenses' outlines a case for removing the president from office, and will hit bookstores on August 27th.'If the Republicans in the House want to try something that foolhardy, it will probably be run by the same group of lawmakers who have voted more than 40 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act,' the official said.'Like most of the partisan actions coming out of the House, the Senate would never stoop to dignify it.'

Benghazi Was a Modern Iran-Contra BargainUnnamed Middle Eastern security sources, Klein notes, have provided him 'with information indicating that both the U.S. mission and the nearby CIA annex in Benghazi served as an intelligence and planning center for U.S. aid to rebels in the Middle East,' particularly those fighting hammer-and-tong against Syria's murderous president.The evasion of legal restrictions on arms deals with foreign governments, he and Elliott suggest, 'should result in the immediate impeachment of Obama, as well as the toppling of other administration officials.'It's difficult to read without drawing parallels with the 1980s-era arms-for-hostages deal that brought charges against 13 Reagan administration officials, many of whom received pardons from President George H.W. Bush before they could be tried.That case, although different in many crucial ways, put arms in the hands of Iranian rebels and was originally conceived as an unlikely scheme to use Israel as a middle-man to supply them. Later on, the plan was modified to use some of the proceeds from the sale to fund anti-communist rebels in Nicaragua.The book's argument is that the Obama administration coordinated secret arms purchases for Syrian rebels through relationships with Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar, using non-U.S. funds. This, the authors write, helped the administration 'skirt laws about the accountability of U.S. funding for CIA and other intelligence operations.'The Benghazi facilities may have been part of an illegal method of funneling weapons to domestic enemies of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad (R); further complicating things, those rebels include Islamists tied to al-Qaeda.Weapons delivered secretly to overseas agitators, as Iran-Contra later showed, can bring unintended consequences. A generation later, the Muslim sect marching Iran toward nuclear weapons are successors to the rebel group the U.S. armed in the 1980s.And U.S. involvement with arming Libyan rebels prior to the ouster of Muammar Gaddafi, according to the United Nations, placed weapons in the hands of militants involved in conflicts in Mali, Syria and Gaza.Klein and Elliott are careful to describe the main State Department facility in Benghazi as a 'mission,' not a consulate. It was never sanctioned as the home base of any diplomatic official, they write, freeing it to be used for other purposes. It was also, they allege, never officially reported to the Libyan government as a full-time U.S. base of operations.This, as documented in a State Department Accountability Review Board report, would seem to violate the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations, which the U.S. ratified in 1961. That agreement requires 'mutual consent' before any participating government can establish a 'permanent diplomatic mission.'The Benghazi outpost was the site of the late U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens' last official meeting, which the administration has described as a dinner with Turkish authorities. Stevens was dead just hours later after more than 100 armed Islamists affiliated with the al-Qaeda-linked group Ansar al-Sharia opened fire and torched the building with diesel fuel.Oddly, Ansar al-Sharia was also affiliated with the Libya-based February 17 Martyrs' Brigade, which provided the facility with its security guards until it refused to protect U.S. diplomats there three days before the September 11, 2012 attack.

Obamacare Is Equal to 'Taxation Without Representation'Although President Obama's most triumphant legislative moment was green-lighted by the Supreme Court in 2012, Klein and Elliott claim, the implementation of Obamacare 'illegally bypasses Congress, infringes on states’ rights, and marks an unprecedented and unauthorized expansion of IRS power.''Obama's signature legislation,' Klein told MailOnline, 'may violate multiple sections of the Constitution and may within itself constitute probable cause for impeachment.'Conservatives in Congress, where House Republicans have presided over more than 40 largely symbolic votes to repeal or defund Obamacare, have argued that the devil is in the details. The law's application, they say, presents constitutional problems, even if a plain reading of its text has won judicial approval at the highest levels.The IRS's plan to implement health care subsidies in the Obamacare insurance exchanges, Klein and Elliott write, is 'an obvious attempt by the Obama administration to illegally bypass Congress and allow the IRS to make up its own rules.'In 2014 that plan is poised to award married couples just 14 per cent of the Obamacare law's tax benefits, and provide enough tax rebates to completely eliminate the income tax burden for 7 million Americans.According to an October 2011 review of the law by Congress' bipartisan Joint Committee on Taxation, the result will 'penalize marriage and take millions of people off the tax rolls.'Obamacare's detractors don't like much about the health care overhaul, but Klein and Elliott say the Obama administration has been ignoring the language of the Affordable Care Act as it's implementing a host of tax changes needed to administer the law.Trust Issues: Sarah Hall Ingram, the IRS official in charge of implementing Obamacare's labyrinthine maze of tax changes, oversaw the agency department responsible for targeting conservative groups that applied for tax-exempt status between 2009 and 2012.Jonathan Adler of the Case Western Reserve University law school and Michael Cannon of the Cato Institute also claimed in a 2011 Wall Street Journal essay that the Obama administration was 'brazenly trying to rewrite the law without involving Congress.'This, they wrote, was evident because of a key difference in how the Affordable Care Act treats health insurance exchanges created by the states and those created by the federal government.The Kaiser Family Foundation has reported that as of May 28, just 17 of the 50 U.S. states had established their own exchanges. Seven more will partner with the federal government, while 27 will default to letting Washington, D.C. run exchanges exclusively for their taxpayers.The law's text forbids the government from providing tax credits and subsidies to participants of those exchanges created and administered in Washington, D.C.But the Obama administration has sidestepped that prohibition, Klein and Elliott write, by planning the payouts anyway even though Congress never allocated money to pay for them.In its May 2012 regulations the IRS promised to pay, in what the authors call an unconstitutional 'bait and switch.'They also argue that forcing the states to implement health care exchanges in the first place is a violation of the Tenth Amendment's limitations on the federal government's power.Whether all of this adds up to Obama himself 'fundamentally abusing the powers of his presidency,' as Klein told MailOnline he has, will be up for debate.

Immigration Reforms Have 'Usurped Constitutional Authority'The framers of the U.S. Constitution, Klein told MailOnline, gave Congress the authority to regulate immigration. But President Obama 'has illegally, willfully, and deliberately been derelict of his duties as the chief executive while consistently usurping [that] constitutional authority.'But with a series of 'executive amnesties,' Klein says, Obama may have committed a 'high crime or misdemeanor' – a category meant to include offenses that only public officials can commit.Make a run for the border: Thousands of Mexican immigrants illegally cross the U.S. border every day; though a disproportionate number of them are arrested for committing crimes, the Obama administration has released thousands from custody.Exhibit A, his book relates, is the administration's systematic release from federal detention facilities of thousands of criminals who were in the country illegally.U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has chalked the move up to 'fiscal uncertainty' hovering over the federal government as a result of sequester-related cutbacks, saying it was undertaken 'to ensure detention levels stay within ICE's current budget.'ICE also said only low-level detainees were released.Klein suggests neither statement is true, and points to this year's impeachment proceedings against outgoing Czech President Václav Klaus for treason as a blueprint for what could await President Obama.Klaus faced impeachment, which was largely moot since he was leaving office, for granting a 'judicial amnesty' for more than six thousand inmates including what The Economist called 'several high-profile cases of embezzlement, bribery and fraud' that dated back to the Czech Republic's post-communist economic overhaul.He is now a senior fellow at the libertarian Cato Institute in Washington.Citing Pinal County, Arizona Sheriff Paul Babeu, Klein and Elliott report that some of the illegal immigrants released from federal lockups in Arizona had been convicted of child molestation, weapons and drug smuggling charges, for aggravated assaults against law enforcement officers, and in some cases for manslaughter.Babeu, a one-time candidate for Congress, saw his campaign scuttled following unsubstantiated allegations that he had a gay lover who was himself an illegal immigrant. But his own allegations against the Obama administration pointed to a systematic release of criminal aliens that stretched back years before the president himself suggested the sequester cuts as a resolution to Washington, D.C. budget fights.More than 8,000 criminal aliens were released between fiscal year 2009 and May 2011 alone, Klein and Elliott write. In 2009 alone, they document, federal detention facilities in Texas and California sprung 809 'recidivist Level 1 illegal immigrant criminals' who were 'eligible for deportation.'Level 1, according to one 2011 inspector general report, describes the 'most egregious criminal aliens, who pose a significant public safety risk.' Their criminal convictions include 'homicide, kidnapping, sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, threats, extortion, sex offenses, cruelty toward family, resisting an officer, illegal weapon possession, hit and run, and drug offenses accompanied by sentences of more than a year.'And a December 2012 Boston Globe investigation found that 'over the past four years, immigration officials have largely without notice freed more than 8,500 detainees convicted of murder, rape, and other crimes, according to ICE’s own statistics, mainly because their home countries would not take them back.'Impeachment advocates also point to Operation Fast and Furious, a botched Department of Justice program that put thousands of guns in the hands of Mexican drug-runners in the hope of tracing them back to the cartels. Attorney General Eric Holder (R) has largely insulated President Obama from blame in the ensuing scandal.'Obama needs to answer,' Klein writes, for releasing so many dangerous criminals instead of deporting them and blaming it on budget shortfalls, given the simultaneous hiring increase by U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

Impeachment Talk Is Already Reaching GOP Flame-ThrowersRep. Blake Farenthold, a Texas Republican, raised eyebrows and a few battle flags with his comments during an August 10 meeting with constituents in the town of Luling – an assessment that mirrors that of the Obama administration official who spoke with MailOnline.'A question I get a lot,' Farenthold said, is "If everyone's so unhappy with the president's done, why don't you impeach him?"'U.S. Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was killed on Dec. 14, 2010 near the Arizona-Mexico border; two weapons found at the scene were linked to Operation Fast and Furious'I'll give you a real frank answer about that,' he offered. 'If we were to impeach the president tomorrow, you could probably get the votes in the House of Representatives to do it. But it would go to the Senate and he wouldn’t be convicted.'Former Republican National Committee chair Michael Steele said Tuesday during a broadcast of MSNBC's 'Hardball' program that such 'arcane, asinine' talk only 'draws the party down' toward a defeat in the 2014 midterm elections.'If you really want to give away the House, go ahead, start impeachment,' he mocked, 'because the fact of the matter is the republic, the public as a whole, would repel against that so much that it wouldn’t even be funny.'Farenthold, however, isn't the first Republican to breathe the 'I'-word out loud.In March 2011, Arizona Rep. Trent Franks said he would 'absolutely' favor impeaching President Obama if his administration failed to defend the constitutionality of a critical section of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act.The Supreme Court has since declared that law unconstitutional under the Due Process Clause of the Constitution's Fifth Amendment.Five months later, Texas Rep. Michael Burgess told a tea party gathering that impeachment 'needs to happen' as a maneuver to 'tie things up' so President Obama couldn't pursue his economic agenda.Rep. Steve Stockman, another Texas Republican, said in January that he would support impeachment proceedings if the White House used Obama's executive authority to restrict the sale of firearms.Rep. Walter Jones of North Carolina introduced a resolution in the House last year stating that if the Obama administration should engage in military action in Syria without seeking the approval of Congress, it would constitute 'an impeachable high crime and misdemeanor.'Last week a group calling itself 'Overpasses for Obama's Impeachment' held rallies in at least 14 states where tea party activists gathered on freeway overpasses with signs calling for the president's impeachment.And on Tuesday the Sarasota, Florida-based National Black Republican Association published a list of proposed Articles of Impeachment, listing what it said were 10 violations of the Constitution.They include alleged crimes related to NSA spying, the administration's prosecution of whistle-blowers the Justice Department's wiretapping of journalists, the IRS's targeting of tea party organizations and pressure applied to CIA operatives to discourage them from talking to Congress about the Benghazi terror attack.The group, led by retired Army Lt. Col. Frances Rice, also argued that the president violated federal law by confirming during an August 9 press conference that federal authorities had obtained a sealed indictment against a Benghazi suspect.As president, Obama has immunity from prosecutions related to nondisclosure and confidentiality laws.But a public clamor for impeachment, while not binding on anyone, could create momentum and embolden conservatives in the House – especially if an issue like health care or immigration boils over into the 2014 midterm elections and sweeps more Republicans into power.As early as June 2010, Fox News Channel host Bill O'Reilly suggested that immigration could become the flashpoint.'If President Obama were to sign an executive order giving illegal aliens amnesty,' O'Reilly said on his highly rated show, 'his career would be over and an impeachment movement would explode.'

Greta Van Susteren slammed President Obama Monday night, for allowing the press access to his golf game and allowing them to take photos.Van Susteren pointed out that the photo was not spontaneous – rather a carefully “staged and choreographed” moment by the White House.“Why would the president do this for the cameras? It’s one thing to take a vacation but is this pose shoving it down the throats of the American people?” she asked. “Many are out of work. They can’t afford to spend the day working on their golf game in one of the most expensive places to vacation. Is this what leadership looks like?”Van Susteren was joined by former Congressman Allen West, R-Fla., who agreed that the photo was “bad optics” for a leader.“Greta, let me tell you something,” West said. “It’s like 133 degrees in Southern Afghanistan and guys have on all of their gear, helmets and what have you. They don’t get to take a five-week vacation.” ■ VIDEO: After 140 rounds of golf, Obama still has a laughable golf swing (54 secs.) ■ VIDEO: Obama on the putting green (2:03)

Obama Rodeo Clown Banned Forever, Bush Clown Mask Was Just Fine in '94 — What a Difference!Obama Mask Cheap - Starting at $ 9.65 - Get one before they're gone!Obama Protected by 'Political Correctness' Sickness — No Jokes or Ridicule Allowed!While there is no written law, we may have finally reached a place in America where it’s forbidden to publicly mock the president of the United States — assuming the president is an African-American and a member of the Democratic Party.The outcry over a rodeo clown donning a mask resembling President Obama reached a new level of absurdity when it was reported Monday that the man behind the mask has been permanently banned from performing at the fair ever again, as reported by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.Missouri State Fair officials barred the rodeo clown from ever performing at the fair again and are requiring that "all officials and subcontractors associated with the association must participate in "sensitivity training," the Post-Dispatch noted.In addition, the president of the Missouri Rodeo Cowboy Association, who served as the announcer at the event, resigned on Monday.Several state lawmakers are also demanding an investigation after threatening to cut funding for the fair, an annual event that receives state tax dollars.Politicians and the national media jumped all over the incident, deeming it to be inappropriate and disrespectful. However, very few are acknowledging that what took place in Sedalia, Mo., on Saturday night was a duplication of a stunt that has been performed many times before.MOCKING BUSH: From Phillly.com article in 1994) The big white gate flew open. The bull came out bucking. The rider flopped from side to side and the bullfighters held back, letting the bull make his moves until the rider dropped off. Licciardello crouched in a heavily padded barrel, a human target should the bull decide to charge. The rodeo clown waited near the barrel, holding his big inner tube. A dummy with a George Bush mask stood beside the clown, propped up by a broomstick. (...) The clown T.J. Hawkins rolled out the big inner tube, and the bull lowered his head, shot forward and launched into the tube, sending it bounding down the center of the arena. The crowd cheered. Then the bull saw the George Bush dummy. He tore into it, sending the rubber mask flying halfway across the sand as he turned toward the fence, sending cowboys scrambling up the fence rails, hooking one with his horn and tossing him off the fence.In a skit titled "Halloween Party," Senator Obama wore an Obama Mask himself. The November 2007 skit was a parody of "Senator Barack Obama stops by the Clintons for a Trick or Treat." He’s racist against himself! Should be fired and banned for life!!VIDEO: Obama Clown Mask at Missouri State Fair Rodeo (3:08) ■ POLL: What Does the Rodeo Clown Incident Mean? ● Missouri is racist ● Poor judgement by fair officials that embarrassed state ● It is a tempest in a teapot. Take the Poll! ■ The 11th Commandment: Thou Shalt Not Ridicule a Black President? -- White Presidents, on the other hand, are free game. A rodeo clown who wore an Obama mask during a show at the Missouri State Fair found himself banned forever. SEDALIA, Mo. - The rodeo clown who donned an Obama mask during a show at the Missouri State Fair over the weekend has been permanently banned from performer there ever again. In a statement released to the media Monday afternoon, the commission apologized again for the rodeo clown's actions and said they were inappropriate and not keeping with the fair's standards. The commission unanimously voted to ratify a decision by Continued >> ■ 11 Liberal Rules for Racism in America -- When America was a racist country, Democrats were primarily the ones engaged in racism. However, now that racism has been largely relegated to the fringes of American society (the KKK, the New Black Panthers, the Nation of Islam, La Raza, MEChA, Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson, American Nazi Party, etc.), the Democrats are constantly wagging their fingers about it. Of course naturally, given the racist history of the Democrat Party, liberals have managed to rig the rules in order to benefit themselves and hurt their political opponents. That's a pretty neat albeit despicable trick that they've managed to pull off Continued >> ■ Missouri NAACP Demands DOJ, Secret Service Investigate Rodeo Clown -- From Mary Ratliff, State President of the NAACP: "The activities at the Missouri State Fair targeting and inciting violence against our President are serious and warrant a full review by both the Secret Service and the Justice Department. Incidents involving individuals acting out with extreme violent behavior in movie theaters, schools, churches, political appearances, and outdoor events in general speaks volume to the irresponsible behavior of all the parties involved with the incendiary events at the Missouri State Fair." "In addition, our Legislature has failed to support Medicare Expansion in Missouri, has consistently attempted to dismantle our Human Rights Continued >>

As the Obama Regime Dismantles Capitalism, Putin's Russia Is Becoming an 'Economic Powerhouse'Putin vs. Obama — A Contrast in MasculinityOne winces pathetically while the other viciously slams his opponent to the mat.

18 Signs That Russia Is Rapidly Catching Up to The United StatesBy Michael Snyder -- The Russian Bear is stronger and more powerful than it has ever been before. Sadly, most Americans don't understand this. They still think of Russia as an "ex-superpower" that was rendered almost irrelevant when the Cold War ended. And yes, when the Cold War ended Russia was in rough shape.I got the chance to go over there in the early nineties, and at the time Russia was an economic disaster zone. Russian currency was so worthless that I joked that I could go exchange a 20 dollar bill and buy the Kremlin. But since that time Russia has roared back to life. Once Vladimir Putin became president, the Russian economy started to grow very rapidly.Today, Russia is an economic powerhouse that is blessed with an abundance of natural resources. Their debt to GDP ratio is extremely small, they actually run a trade surplus every year, and they have the second most powerful military on the entire planet.Anyone that underestimates Russia at this point is making a huge mistake. The Russian Bear is back, and today it is a more formidable adversary than it ever was at any point during the Cold War. Just check out the following statistics.The following are 18 signs that Russia is rapidly catching up to the United States:

1. Russia produces more oil than anyone else on the planet. The United States is in third place.2. Russia is the number two oil exporter in the world. The United States is forced to import more oil than anyone else in the world.3. Russia produces more natural gas than anyone else on the planet. The United States is in second place.4. Today, Russia supplies 34 percent of Europe's natural gas needs.5. The United States has a debt to GDP ratio of 101 percent. Russia has a debt to GDP ratio of about 8 percent.6. The United States had a trade deficit of more than half a trillion dollars last year. Russia consistently runs a large trade surplus.7. The United States has an unemployment rate of 7.4 percent. Russia has an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent.8. Since Vladimir Putin first became president of Russia, the Russian economy has grown at a very rapid pace. The following is from Wikipedia...Under the presidency of Vladimir Putin Russia's economy saw the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) double, climbing from 22nd to 11th largest in the world. The economy made real gains of an average 7% per year (1999: 6.5%, 2000: 10%, 2001: 5.7%, 2002: 4.9%, 2003: 7.3%, 2004: 7.2%, 2005: 6.4%, 2006: 8.2%, 2007: 8.5%, 2008: 5.2%), making it the 6th largest economy in the world in GDP(PPP). In 2007, Russia's GDP exceeded that of 1990, meaning it has overcome the devastating consequences of the recession in the 1990s.During Putin's eight years in office, the industry grew by 75%, investments increased by 125%, and agricultural production and construction increased as well. Real incomes more than doubled and the average salary increased eightfold from $80 to $640. The volume of consumer credit between 2000–2006 increased 45 times, and during that same time period, the middle class grew from 8 million to 55 million, an increase of 7 times. The number of people living below the poverty line also decreased from 30% in 2000 to 14% in 2008.9. According to Bloomberg, Russia has added 570 metric tons of gold to their reserves over the past decade. In the United States, nobody seems to be quite sure how much gold the Federal Reserve actually has left.10. Moscow is the second most expensive city in the world. Meanwhile, the United States actually has the unfriendliest city in the world (Newark, New Jersey).11. More billionaires live in Moscow than in any other city on the globe.12. The Moscow metro system completely outclasses the subway systems in Washington D.C. and New York City.13. The United States has the most powerful military on the planet, but Russia is in second place.14. Russia has introduced a new "near silent" nuclear submarine which is far more quiet than anything the U.S. has...The Borey Class submarine, dubbed Vladimir Monomakh, has a next generation nuclear reactor, can dive deeper than 1,200 feet, and carries up to 20 nuclear intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM).Each of these "Bulava" ICBM's can carry ten detachable MIRV warheads, what they call "re-entry vehicles," capable of delivering 150 kiloton yields per warhead.15. While Barack Obama is neutering the U.S. strategic nuclear arsenal, Vladimir Putin is working hard to modernize Russian nuclear forces.16. Russian missile forces will hold more than 200 drills during the second half of 2013.17. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin made headlines all over the world when he climbed into the cockpit of Russia’s new "fifth generation" fighter jet and announced that it was far superior to the F-22 Raptor.18. It is estimated that Russia has more spies inside the United States today than it did at any point during the Cold War.

Unfortunately, whenever I write an article about Russia I find that most people simply do not get it. They will make statements such as "the Cold War is over" or "Russia is our friend" which show a complete and total lack of understanding of the current geopolitical situation.Russia has been steadily building a stronger relationship with China, and collectively they represent the number one strategic threat to the United States.

Benghazi Bombshell: Benghazi Was About 400 Surface-to-Air-Missiles Stolen by 'Some Very Ugly People,' DiGenova Says (CNSNews.com) - Former U.S. Attorney Joe DiGenova, who now represents one of the Benghazi whistleblowers, told a Washington radio station Monday that the real scandal in Benghazi is the theft of 400 surface-to-air missiles by some "very ugly people." The Obama administration fears those missiles will be used to shoot down an airplane or blow up one of our embassies, he said.Speaking to WMAL on Monday morning, DiGenova blasted President Obama for revealing, at his Friday news conference, the existence of a sealed indictment against a Benghazi suspect or suspects.Then DiGenova added this bombshell:"We had troops ready to deploy in Croatia to go (to Benghazi) that night of Sept. 11, 2012 to rescue Americans. We have learned that one of the reasons the administration is so deeply concerned -- we have been told there were 400 surface-to-air missiles stolen, and that they are on or about in the hands of many people, and that the biggest fear in the U.S. intelligence community is that one of these missiles will be used to shoot down an airliner."DiGenvoa said the information came to him as a result of his legal representation of Benghazi whistleblower Mark Thompson."This information comes from former intelligence officials who stay in constant contact with people in the special ops and intelligence community. And it is pretty clear that the biggest concern right now are the 400 missiles which have been diverted in Libya and have gotten into the hands of some very ugly people. And they worried specifically, according to theses sources, about an attempt to shoot down an airliner."DiGenova says he doesn't know if the missiles were physically at the CIA annex on the night of Sept. 12 -- "but it is clear that the annex was somehow involved in the process of the distribution of those missiles." The CIA annex in Benghazi apparently was gathering the Libyan missiles to be sent to an unknown destination.Why did the Obama administration delay the entry of FBI investigators into Benghazi after four Americans, including Ambassador Chris Stevens, were killed that night? DiGenova was asked."Because it happened before an election," he replied.DiGenova said the theft of the missiles continues to have a ripple effect: "This is why we shut down the 19 embassies recently. They were afriad that there was going to be a missile attack on one of the embassies. Remember, you can take a shoulder held missile and shoot it into an embassy, not just into the sky."What happened is, the reason they lied, about -- in other words, remember the famous demonstration, and the phony video and all of that? That's what this was all about. That's why they're so worried. That's why they have lied repeatedly about what happened in Benghazi. Because they are now responsible for all of the stepchildren of violence that happens as a result of this. This is a very serious manner. And when you compound it with the flippancy of the president of the United States who talks about a sealed indictment to cover his fanny -- to make it look like he's doing something when in fact he has done nothing -- we have reached a level of cynicism on the part of this president that is staggering."DiGenova says former U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice was sent out to lie on five Sunday talk shows, blaming the attack on an obscure anti-Muslim video, to cover up the real scandal involving the stolen missiles.DiGenova said in revealing the existence of the indictment, the president "did jeopardize the lives of people who may be trying to find some people on the ground in Libya, and I assume that we do have somebody there trying to find some people, although with this president, you never know -- because as you know, he doesn't want to capture people, he wants to kill them, because if he captures them, he either has to try them -- which is very hard to do -- or put 'em in Gitmo, which he will not do."Valerie Jarrett Gave the Orders on 9/11/2012 and Blocked Rescue of Benghazi SurvivorsValerie Jarrett — the 'Real' Commander in Chief

This report is entirely believable, given that Jarrett nixed the raid on Bin Laden three separate times.Confidential sources close to Conservative Report have confirmed that Valerie Jarrett was the key decision-maker for the administration, the night of the Benghazi terrorist attack on 9/11/2012.The chronology of the evening of 9/11 are as follows:At approximately 5 PM Washington time, reports came in through secure-channels that Special Mission Benghazi was under attack. Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Martin Dempsey summoned the President,and briefed him on the crisis, face to face.Subsequent to that brief meeting, President Obama proceeded to the White House to dine in his living quarters.After supper, Barack Obama had a telephone conference scheduled with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu ... As that meeting drew to a close, Ms. Jarrett, who is also the Assistant to the President for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs, went from the living quarters to the White House Situation Room, where the attack in Benghazi was being monitored by Dempsey, Panetta and other top-ranking officials.Whether she was instructed by the President to go there, or if she went of her own volition, is only known by the President and herself.A critical question that needed to be answered, and the sole military-order that could have launched offensive-actions, neutralizing the Ansar al Sharia terrorists attacks on the Mission (the purpose of which are detailed here) and its subsequent attacks on the adjacent CIA Annex, was the issuance of “Cross Border Authority”, an order that can only be issued by the Commander in Chief himself.As was reported earlier by Conservative Report, Cross Border Authority was denied... Two revelations are deeply troubling:First, it is reported that an Army Special Forces team was present with an AC-130U Spooky (also known as a Spectre Gunship) on the tarmac at the airport in Tripoli, Libya. The Spooky is a technologically sophisticated, tactical aircraft, operated by the U.S. Air Force Special... The AC-130U Spooky is equipped with weapons that sync with laser-designators, like those that Woods, Doherty and Ubben had on that lonely rooftop above the CIA Annex. The laser-designator was used to “paint” the mortar targets during the attack, subsequently claiming the lives of Woods and Doherty, and leaving Ubben without a leg. Had the AC-130U been on station, over the CIA Annex in Benghazi, moments before the mortar rounds were fired, instead of "awaiting further instructions," the entire outcome of the Benghazi fiasco would have been different.Add to that, a team of Green Berets on the ground to secure and/or evacuate the Annex, and the outcome would have been two SEALS still alive, and a mess of dead terrorists.The second, and most troubling aspect of the refusal to issue Cross Border Authority is who issued the refusal. Rather than the President, the Commander In Chief, making critical decisions, granting or denying the authority to initiate offensive-actions in support of our valiant fighting men, the decision not to take action was made by a person, to whom the people did not elect, nor did the Congress have confirmation power over.The military-order, not to initiate action, saving our men in Benghazi, was issued by the President's Advisor, Valerie Jarrett.,And this is a “phony” scandal?This report would certainly explain the serial lies, cover-ups, and obfuscation by this administration.Could someone find out what bar John Boehner is in and buy him shots of Glenfiddich until he agrees to name a Select Investigative Committee on Benghazi?Who Is Valerie Jarrett & Is She the One That Gave the “Stand Down” Order In Benghazi?“We have kind of a mind meld . . . and chances are, what Barack wants to do is what I’d want to do.”

By Leon Puissegur -- Valerie Jarrett is Obama’s top advisor and for the most part, that is all the majority of people know about her at all. Now we are going to show you what many have asked, and we will show you just who Valerie Jarrett really is, where she came from, what her alliances are, what her background is, what she thinks and most of all, what type of individual she really is. Once we lay out who she is, we must ask ourselves if Valerie Jarrett is the one that gave the ‘stand down’ order to those who were in Benghazi to help and rescue Americans under attack as Barack Obama slept.Valerie Jarrett is Obama’s top advisor and for the most part, that is all the majority of people know about her at all. Now we are going to show you what many have asked, and we will show you just who Valerie Jarrett really is, where she came from, what her alliances are, what her background is, what she thinks and most of all, what type of individual she really is. Once we lay out who she is, we must ask ourselves if Valerie Jarrett is the one that gave the ‘stand down’ order to those who were in Benghazi to help and rescue Americans under attack as Barack Obama slept.To begin with, Valerie Jarrett was born in 1956 in Shiraz, Iran, where her father worked as a doctor at a children’s hospital. When she was 5, her family moved to London for just 1 year then to the “elite” Hyde Park of Chicago, which was considered to be one of the better neighborhoods. It is also the very same place that Louis Farrakhan, Bill Ayers, and of course Barack Obama lived. However, this is of little concern as to where Valerie Jarrett got her political influence.According to DiscoverTheNetworks.org:A man named, Robert Taylor, was Jarrett’s maternal grandfather and her political background could be established with him, but in the 1940′s Communism was frowned upon and Mr. Taylor was involved in such Communist fronts as the American Peace Mobilization and the Chicago Civil Liberties Committee. Now another person whom, was also a member of these groups and was a “mentor” for Barack Obama was the Communist journalist, none other than Frank Marshall Davis.Now here we can show a direct link to Communist influences to both Barack Obama and Valerie Jarrett both of who had very close associations with Communist Party members. It was Jarrett’s mother Barbara Taylor Bowman who co-founded the Chicago-based graduate school in child development known as the Erikson Institute, which was named after Erik Erikson a notable psychoanalyst.In 1950 Erikson became a hero to the left by choosing to resign from his professorship at the University of California rather than sign an anti-communist loyalty oath as the school required. Indicative of the Erikson Institute’s radical political orientation is the fact that its board of trustees has included, in addition to Bowman, such figures as Tom Ayers (father of the former Weather Underground terrorist and lifelong Marxist Bill Ayers) and Bernardine Dohrn (longtime wife of Bill Ayers). Bill Ayers, for his part, called Bowman “a neighbor and friend” in his 1997 book A Kind and Just Parent, noting that his neighbors also included Louis Farrakhan and “writer Barack Obama.”Here we can see the many types of association that may well have influenced Valerie Jarrett. One can also see the influence of Communism, of which her family seemed to be involved. Jarrett’s family also had direct links to Frank Marshal Davis, a mentor for Barack Obama who was on the FBI watch list due to his aggressive background in Communism. Her affiliation with Communism did not stop there because it seems that the man she married also had a family deeply rooted in the Communist ideology.“In 1983 she married Dr. William Robert Jarrett, son of the Chicago Sun-Times reporter Vernon Jarrett. Vernon Jarrett was a pioneering black journalist who in the 1940s wrote columns for the communist-influenced Chicago Defender extolling Communist poet Langston Hughes and lifelong Stalinists W.E.B. DuBois and Paul Robeson. Also in the 1940s, Mr. Jarrett was a leader of the Chicago chapter of American Youth for Democracy—youth wing of the Communist Party USA. He also served on a publicity committee for the Packinghouse Workers Union, a Chicago-based entity dominated by the CPUSA. In each of these endeavors, Mr. Jarrett had close contact with Frank Marshall Davis.”With all the Communist influence in her background, it could be easily stated that she was a type of “closet” Communist, since she has really not come directly out front and made that statement. However, just like Obama, her background is heavily influenced with Communist type. There are deep-rooted problems with Valerie Jarrett and her family that seem to have some sort of communist ideology, either linked directly to them or they are a part of it. We need only go to Discover the Networks to find the links and her base of thought when it comes to where she may have obtained the ideologies she now seems to be using.“He freelanced at Kansas City’s The Call from 1954-58, then returned to Chicago to become the first nationally syndicated black columnist for the Chicago Tribune, and still later wrote for the Chicago Sun-Times. Mr. Jarrett once sat on a union publicity committee (for the communist-controlled Packinghouse Workers Union) with Frank Marshall Davis, the Communist poet who occasionally counseled the young Barack Obama. When Vernon Jarrett died in 2004, he was saluted in the pages of People’s Weekly Worker, the house organ of the Communist Party USA.”Some people have asked just how in the world does Valerie Jarrett hold the ear of a President and just how did she come to that level of status? According to her profile:“Valerie Jarrett entered Chicago politics in 1987 as Deputy Corporation Counsel for Finance and Development in the administration of Harold Washington, the city’s first African-American mayor. Jarrett’s father-in-law, whom The Washington Post called“a key influence in [Harold] Washington’s decision to run for the Chicago mayoralty,” may have facilitated Valerie’s rise through Chicago’s political ranks.After Washington’s death in 1987, Valerie Jarrett worked for his successor, Richard M. Daley, whom she served as Deputy Chief of Staff. In 1991 Jarrett and her colleague Susan Sher recruited to Chicago’s City Hall Michelle Robinson (the future Michelle Obama), who at the time was engaged to Barack Obama. Jarrett quickly became a trusted confidante of both the Obamas.”Here we can see that Valerie Jarrett became a close friend and confidant of the Obamas even before they got married. It has to be noted that Valerie Jarrett also had close ties with people that some found to be a bit too much. In particular, we mean one of the strongest Communists to ever be placed into a position by any president. The name of the individual is none other than Van Jones. It was due to the influence of Valerie Jarrett that Van Jones got the job of “Green Jobs Czar”. She then gushed about Jones at the Netroots Nation conference saying:“We were so delighted to be able to recruit him [Van Jones] into the White House. We were watching him…for as long as he’s been active out in Oakland. And all the creative ideas he has. And so now, we have captured that, and we have all that energy in the White House.”Valerie Jarrett was also instrumental in obtaining and creating new jobs for Obama’s friends, as well as hers. Continued >>

The Election of Hillary Clinton Would Be the End of 'The American Dream,' at Best — At Worst, the Fulfillment of the 'End Times Prophecy'If justice somehow prevails, here's Hillary in 201616 Reasons Why Hillary Clinton Will Win 2016Sorry, folks, this race is over. Conservative Myra Adams lists the many reasons Hillary will win the White House in 2016—from gross media bias to groupthink and barrels of money.By Myra Adams -- By the standards of “political time,” where in one day a candidate can go from frontrunner to underdog, the 2016 presidential election is decades away. But from this vantage point, all signs point to Hillary Clinton coasting to the Democrat Party nomination and winning the White House.As a lifelong Republican, I am not pleased with my own prediction—nothing would thrill me more than if a conservative were to win back the presidency. But my political reality instincts lead me to believe the following. (And I’ve been right before: in January 2011, I cowrote “12 Reasons Obama Wins in 2012.”)Unless there is a radical change of circumstances within the Republican Party and its crop of presidential wannabes, or some unforeseen cataclysmic national event that dramatically alters the current economic and political landscape, or a serious deterioration in her health, Hillary has it locked up.Here are 16 reasons why Hillary Clinton is poised to be elected the next president of the United States, in order of importance.

1. Madame President: A Great Social Movement in the Making . . . more2. The Media Is Ready to Crown a Queen3. Groupthink: It’s Her Time, and She Deserves It4. Organization the Obama Way5. Barrels of Money6. The Electoral College is Slanted Toward Hillary and the Democrats7. Hillary Will Have Either Symbolic or No Primary Opposition8. The Hispanic Voting Bloc Is Hillary’s to Lose9. The African-American and Asian Vote Is Also Hillary’s to Lose10. Bill Clinton Will Be a Tremendous Asset to Hillary11. Hillary Will Run for Either Obama’s Third Term or Bill Clinton’s12. The Republicans Have a Weak Bench With Little Star Power13. The Long GOP Primary System Plays to Hillary’s Advantage14. Hillary Will Make the Case That She Is the Only Leader Who Can Bring Us Together15. Calling Hillary ‘Old’ Insults the Old Republican Base16. The GOP Has Weak Arguments Against Hillary . . . more

Recently, someone sent me a link with a video from the Stop Hillary.com PAC. The video portrayed her 2017 “inauguration.” The voice-over was Hillary taking the presidential oath of office while the following words were flashed on the screen: Whitewater, Vince Foster, Travelgate, Rose Law Firm, and Benghazi. Then as Hillary finishes the oath saying, “So help me God,” the words “So help us” flash on the screen.Along with the video, here is the mission statement of the Stop Hillary PAC:Make sure Hillary Clinton never becomes president! America can’t survive another team back in the White House. In 2016, it will be too late to stop Hillary. we’ve got to hold her accountable right now. Stop Hillary PAC was created for one reason only—to save America from the destructive far-left, liberal cancer created by Bill and Hillary Clinton that’s trying to corrupt America. Stand with Stop Hillary PAC today to take a stand for America’s future and STOP Hillary dead in her tracks.Now, does any thinking Republican actually believe that dredging up ’90s-era scandals is going to stop Hillary? (Benghazi is different, but unfortunately the mainstream media and general public have lost interest, and by 2016 it will have as much negative impact on her as Travelgate.)If these arguments are the best the “Stop Hillary movement” can muster, then it is time for some new arguments.And Finally . . .Because of reasons No. 1 through 16, and in spite of the fact that Hillary is extremely polarizing and travels with a lot of baggage, she is still poised to win in 2016 because frankly, there is no one who can stop her. Unless, as stated at the beginning, there are unforeseen cataclysmic national events that dramatically alter the current economic and political landscape or Hillary has major health issues and drops out even before she gets in.For the record, I am not in favor of any of the above options. The best I can hope for is that the presidential election campaign in 2016 will be fair, clean, and without the blatant media bias that tipped the scales for Obama in 2008 and 2012.But since we are talking about Hillary as the first woman president, and a rekindled Clinton media love affair, good luck with all that!Myra Adams is a media producer, writer and political observer. Her media clients have included national associations, political interest groups and corporations. She was on the creative team with Mark McKinnon that created the now infamous John Kerry “Windsurfing” ad for the Bush 2004 presidential campaign and served on the McCain Ad Council during the 2008 McCain campaign. Myra’s web site TheJesusStore.com contributes all profits to Christian charity.More Dems than Republicans, 53% to 27%, Say 'American Dream' Is Dead — Congrats, Obama!The dream is gone for Democrats, the American Dream that is.In a new YouGov poll, 53 percent of Democrats say that the American dream is no longer achievable. By comparison, 55 percent of Republicans say the dream is still achievable. By the same percentage, 27 percent, Republicans think the dream is not achievable and Democrats do think it is.But when combined in a single question about the American Dream, the poll finds that the dream is slipping away in the minds of most Americans.When asked 'Do you think that the American Dream has become impossible for most people to achieve?' Americans are split: 41 percent said it is impossible for most to achieve and 38 percent said it is still possible.Yet while Americans are down on the American Dream, they still believe that hard work can help anybody succeed.Some 63 agreed with the statement, "Anyone with talent who is willing to work hard and put the effort in can have a successful career and rise to the top, regardless of their background," said YouGov. And only 23 percent agreed with the other side of the coin: "Success in America today is mostly reserved for those from privileged backgrounds who know the right people; talented people from poor backgrounds don't have a chance."

WHAT SCANDALS!C-O-R-R-U-P-T ABCBSNBCNNYTWPBSNPRLATIgnore or Cover Up Bad News About ObamaThe IRS, NSA, Fast & Furious, Benghazi and DOJ Spying on Reporters ARE SCANDALS!

By Brent Bozell and Tim Graham -- In-mid May, new Obama scandals piled up at the White House. A portrait emerged of a president whose Internal Revenue Service was harassing his enemies, a State Department that lied to the world about the fatal debacle in Benghazi and a Justice Department spying on reporters who might leak anti-Obama information.But several national journalists announced that Obama had been scandal-free for the first four years-and-change of his administration.On NPR’s “Morning Edition,” anchorman Steve Inskeep asserted to Cokie Roberts that “this administration has been described — I don’t even know how many times — as remarkably scandal-free.”On ABC’s “World News,” reporter Jonathan Karl proclaimed “a White House that takes pride in being scandal-free has been hammered by a series of controversies.” On MSNBC, Rana Foroohar of Time magazine lamented, “What’s so sad about it is the President has been very rightfully proud of the lack of scandal in his administration so far.”These journalists suffered from complete, mentally paralyzing amnesia about the first term, with the deadly “Fast and Furious” gun-running fiasco, the embarrassing decline and fall of Solyndra and other solar energy companies funded by Energy Department loans and Benghazi-gate, to name a few.Now, several months after a brief flurry of scandal coverage in the national media, journalists have gone numb enough that President Obama is shamelessly campaigning around the country attacking the Republicans for dwelling on “phony scandals.” He’s formed such a close bond of collusion with reporters that they tell him his second-term ideas are all great: “A lot of reporters say that, well, Mr. President, these are all good ideas, but some of you’ve said before; some of them sound great, but you can’t get those through Congress,” he said Wednesday.Obama makes it sound like the reporters are all thinly disguised Democratic strategists who advise him on how to succeed, but they all worry about those horrid Republican obstructionists in Congress who hate Obama (perhaps because they’re racists) and want him to fail as a president.Reporters aren’t embarrassed enough by the president’s boasting of his chummy reporter-advisers to sound like independent journalists. The networks engage in outright censorship of information that could damage Obama’s gloriously, prematurely decorated place in political history.That’s become especially obvious on the IRS scandal in targeting Tea Party groups. The real Americans who have been targeted don’t think this is a “phony scandal.”

18Real Cute! The IRS Paints it Black — Unreadable Redacted Pages!Greta shows redacted pages that IRS sent the committeeIf the IRS scandal is “phony” as President Obama claims it is, then why is the agency redacting the documents that it is sending to Congress like this?That’s among the questions that Rep. Jim Jordan is asking. Jordan sits on the House Oversight Committee, which is investigating the IRS’ abuse of conservative groups — abuse to which it confessed on May 10. Jordan says that many of the 13,000 pages that the IRS sent the committee look like the ones above. Which are totally blacked out.“How do you get to the truth, when this is the kind of information we’re getting from the IRS?” Jordan asked rhetorically on Greta Van Sustern’s show last night.It’s a good question. The IRS would bring the hammer down on any American who responded to an IRS audit similarly. That American would be facing jail and mountains of fines and a ruined life.“After the president said he wants to get to the bottom of this, this is important, you know we have this, we have the FBI director who couldn’t tell us who’s heading the investigation, how many agents have been assigned to the investigation, have they talked to any of the victims groups? And on and on it goes,” Jordan said. Jordan noted that the IRS scandal started from a planted question and IRS official Lois Lerner blaming “two rogue agents in Cincinnati.”Those two “rogue agents” must have a huge budget for black printer ink. Full page after full page of it.President Obama set the tone for this contemptuous response by calling the scandal “phony.” He thumbed his nose at the thousands of Americans whom the IRS abused, and now the IRS itself is thumbing its nose at Congress as it attempts to conduct oversight of government actions — which is Congress’ job.The “rogue agents” claim fell apart quickly, and now multiple IRS offices have been shown to have been involved in the scandal, which reaches into the IRS counsel’s office in Washington, at least. It may also have reached into the Federal Elections Commission, which would strongly indicate that the scandal itself originates above either agency, but within the executive branch. The White House, in other words.“Here’s the part that scares me,” Jordan said. ” We now think it goes broader than this. We think maybe groups that already had tax-exempt status were being harassed and targeted via the audit process.” Jordan said that one conservative group had not been audited since 1995, but was audited by the IRS in 2011 and 2012. He also described the harassment — and that’s what it was — that Catherine Engelbrecht suffered at the hands of multiple executive branch agencies after she founded True the Vote, which advocates for election integrity.Van Susteren noted that it’s a crime to obstruct justice, as the IRS appears to be doing by releasing reams of blacked out pages.But there’s a clock running on this scandal, and if the FBI and IRS are both actively and even aggressively failing to investigate, what are the odds that any obstructers will ever get caught? The president and his spokesman say the scandal is “phony,” after all. That sent word out to everyone involved that the president’s May 15 claim that he was outraged by the scandal was, itself, phony. So you don’t have to tell Congress a thing.“There’s no indication that they [Obama, new IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, whose agency sent the black pages to Congress] give a damn,” Van Susteren said.Indeed. Or, they know exactly where the scandal will lead, and are downplaying it and mocking Congress to play for time.Bryan Preston has been a leading conservative blogger and opinionator since founding his first blog in 2001. Bryan is a military veteran, worked for NASA, was a founding blogger and producer at Hot Air, was producer of the Laura Ingraham Show and, most recently before joining PJM, was Communications Director of the Republican Party of Texas.

UNSHOCKER! GOP Report Concludes Lyin' Attorney General Holder Lied to Congress on Targeting of ReportersHolder looking good in stripesHouse Republicans, in a lengthy report on the Justice Department's leak investigations, formally accused Attorney General Eric Holder of misleading Congress with "deceptive" testimony that he knew nothing of the "potential prosecution" of the press.The 70-page report was released late Wednesday by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee. To coincide with the release, lawmakers also wrote a letter to President Obama calling for a "change in leadership" at the Justice Department."The deceptive and misleading testimony of Attorney General Holder is unfortunately just the most recent example in a long list of scandals that have plagued the department," House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said in a statement.The report delved into the department's aggressive investigations over various security leaks, but focused in large part on the FBI affidavit seeking a search warrant for Fox News correspondent James Rosen's emails in connection with one such probe. The DOJ sought access to the documents by arguing Rosen was a likely criminal "co-conspirator" in a leak case, citing the Espionage Act.Yet on May 15, shortly before the document was made public, Holder told the House Judiciary Committee that he hadn't heard of any effort to prosecute reporters."With regard to potential prosecution of the press for the disclosure of material, that is not something that I have ever been involved, heard of, or would think would be a wise policy," Holder said. He discussed the issue amid concerns about the DOJ grabbing phone records from Associated Press offices.The newly released House report concluded that this comment was "deceptive and misleading." The report said: "We believe that Mr. Holder's simple and direct statement had the intended effect -- to leave the members of the Committee with the impression that not only had the potential prosecution of a reporter never been contemplated during Mr. Holder's tenure, but that nothing comparable to the Rosen search warrant had ever been executed by this administration. ... On the basis of Mr. Holder's testimony, there was little doubt in the Members' minds that the legal machinery for such an undertaking had never been started." Continued >>

BENGHAZI SCANDAL UPDATE: CNN Interviews Accused Benghazi Attack Perpetrator Ahmed Abdu Khattala: Not In Hiding, Claims FBI Not Looking For Him On Wednesday, CNN aired a portion of an interview one of the network’s reporters was able to conduct with a man accused of participating in the September 11, 2012, attack on an American diplomatic consulate in Benghazi. The individual accused of participating in that attack was not in hiding and said that American investigators were not looking for him. He does, however, deny his direct involvement in that attack.CNN reporter Arwa Damon recently sat down with Ahmed Abdu Khattala who has been accused of playing a role in the Benghazi attack.“He seemed to be confident,” Damon said. “His demeanor most certainly not that of a man who believed he was going to be detained or targeted any time soon.”Khattala told Damon that no one from either the Libyan or American governments has contacted him asking for his take on the events of that deadly night in 2012. “Even the investigative team did not try to contact me,” he said of the FBI team that traveled to Libya in the wake of the attack.Damon said that Khattala told her that he would be happy to speak with American investigators about what happened on the night of the Benghazi attack. She stressed, however, that he would not voluntarily submit to interrogation.“Why has no one reached out to him yet?” Damon asked rhetorically. Continued >> ■ UPDATE: CIA was a 'Running arms-smuggling team when consulate was attacked' ■ Rep: Obama admin hiding survivors, changing their names

CNN Report: 'Dozens' of CIA Operatives Were On Ground in Benghazi at Time of Consulate Attack — Are Being Silenced and Intimidated! By Jake Tapper -- CNN has uncovered exclusive new information about what is allegedly happening at the CIA, in the wake of the deadly Benghazi terror attack.Four Americans, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens, were killed in the assault by armed militants last September 11 in eastern Libya.Sources now tell CNN dozens of people working for the CIA were on the ground that night, and that the agency is going to great lengths to make sure whatever it was doing, remains a secret.CNN has learned the CIA is involved in what one source calls an unprecedented attempt to keep the spy agency's Benghazi secrets from ever leaking out.Read: Analysis: CIA role in Benghazi underreportedSince January, some CIA operatives involved in the agency's missions in Libya, have been subjected to frequent, even monthly polygraph examinations, according to a source with deep inside knowledge of the agency's workings.The goal of the questioning, according to sources, is to find out if anyone is talking to the media or Congress.It is being described as pure intimidation, with the threat that any unauthorized CIA employee who leaks information could face the end of his or her career.In exclusive communications obtained by CNN, one insider writes, "You don't jeopardize yourself, you jeopardize your family as well."Another says, "You have no idea the amount of pressure being brought to bear on anyone with knowledge of this operation.""Agency employees typically are polygraphed every three to four years. Never more than that," said former CIA operative and CNN analyst Robert Baer.In other words, the rate of the kind of polygraphs alleged by sources is rare."If somebody is being polygraphed every month, or every two months it's called an issue polygraph, and that means that the polygraph division suspects something, or they're looking for something, or they're on a fishing expedition. But it's absolutely not routine at all to be polygraphed monthly, or bi-monthly," said Baer.CIA spokesman Dean Boyd asserted in a statement that the agency has been open with Congress."The CIA has worked closely with its oversight committees to provide them with an extraordinary amount of information related to the attack on U.S. facilities in Benghazi," the statement said."CIA employees are always free to speak to Congress if they want," the statement continued. "The CIA enabled all officers involved in Benghazi the opportunity to meet with Congress. We are not aware of any CIA employee who has experienced retaliation, including any non-routine security procedures, or who has been prevented from sharing a concern with Congress about the Benghazi incident."Among the many secrets still yet to be told about the Benghazi mission, is just how many Americans were there the night of the attack.A source now tells CNN that number was 35, with as many as seven wounded, some seriously.While it is still not known how many of them were CIA, a source tells CNN that 21 Americans were working in the building known as the annex, believed to be run by the agency.The lack of information and pressure to silence CIA operatives is disturbing to U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf, whose district includes CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia."I think it is a form of a cover-up, and I think it's an attempt to push it under the rug, and I think the American people are feeling the same way," said the Republican."We should have the people who were on the scene come in, testify under oath, do it publicly, and lay it out. And there really isn't any national security issue involved with regards to that," he said.Wolf has repeatedly gone to the House floor, asking for a select committee to be set-up, a Watergate-style probe involving several intelligence committee investigators assigned to get to the bottom of the failures that took place in Benghazi, and find out just what the State Department and CIA were doing there.More than 150 fellow Republican members of Congress have signed his request, and just this week eight Republicans sent a letter to the new head of the FBI, James Comey, asking that he brief Congress within 30 days.Read: White House releases 100 pages of Benghazi e-mailsIn the aftermath of the attack, Wolf said he was contacted by people closely tied with CIA operatives and contractors who wanted to talk.Then suddenly, there was silence."Initially they were not afraid to come forward. They wanted the opportunity, and they wanted to be subpoenaed, because if you're subpoenaed, it sort of protects you, you're forced to come before Congress. Now that's all changed," said Wolf.Lawmakers also want to about know the weapons in Libya, and what happened to them.Speculation on Capitol Hill has included the possibility the U.S. agencies operating in Benghazi were secretly helping to move surface-to-air missiles out of Libya, through Turkey, and into the hands of Syrian rebels.It is clear that two U.S. agencies were operating in Benghazi, one was the State Department, and the other was the CIA.The State Department told CNN in an e-mail that it was only helping the new Libyan government destroy weapons deemed "damaged, aged or too unsafe retain," and that it was not involved in any transfer of weapons to other countries.But the State Department also clearly told CNN, they "can't speak for any other agencies."The CIA would not comment on whether it was involved in the transfer of any weapons.

Plausible Theory: Benghazi Attack Was a Planned Prisoner Exchange to Swap Ambassador Chris Stevens for “The Blind Sheik" — That Was Botched!By Dean Garrison -- The Benghazi attack that resulted in the deaths of 4 Americans was, with almost 100% certainty, a planned prisoner exchange to swap Ambassador Chris Stevens for “The Blind Sheik.” It was, in my opinion, a deal between Barack Obama and Mohamed Morsi that went bad.This story has been floating around since shortly after the attack. The difference between now and 10 months ago is that the original hypothesis has continued to gain evidence to support it.Yesterday’s conspiracy has turned in today’s reality.This will likely be a long write-up but for the sake of my country I plan to tell you what I know. In the end you will have to judge whether you deem it as proof or at least reason for suspicion to support this story line.Americans are sick and tired of the media circus and the lack of results coming from Congress. We want the truth. The problem is that our congressional leaders don’t seem to be asking the right questions and they are certainly not talking to the right people.On Thursday, CNN’s Jake Tapper
added to the growing evidence of internal cover up by exposing the fact that “dozens” of CIA agents were on the grounds and have been intimidated so they won’t talk. They are allegedly going through routine polygraph testing to ensure they are not talking to either the media or congress. I was ecstatic to see that come from a left-wing media source, by the way.The truth is that this is not about left v. right. It is about wrong v. right. Evidence may come out that “the right” was complicit in this cover up, as I believe they are. I believe that we have lots of corrupt legislators on both sides of the aisle that are covering this up like their life depended on it. Because it probably does.For Congress to spend all of this time beating a dead horse makes me think that they are knowingly complicit or, at least, inadvertently complicit in this cover up. They continue to ask “softball” questions of people who they know will be unwilling to talk. Chances are that nearly every past testimony is already a case for perjury but how will we ever know if we don’t get to the truth?So what happened? What is this talk of a prisoner exchange?Again, this is going to be a long article because I want to make sure that I leave nothing out.It all started with Mohamed Morsi and a promise…On June 29th, 2012 The Wall Street Journal reported that Mohamed Morsi was making some rather extreme promises to his new constituents:Egypt’s President-elect Mohammed Morsi made a nod to his base in a speech on Friday when he pledged to seek the release of Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman from U.S. custody.Sheik Abdel-Rahman, who is better known as the “blind sheik” is serving a life sentence at a federal penitentiary in North Carolina for his role in planning the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center in New York City.This is more than likely where the theory began. What one must ask themselves is this…Did Morsi already have a plan in place to make sure that he could deliver on this promise? It is my belief that he did. Barack Obama was a big Morsi supporter from the beginning as were his cabinet members. Shortly before the current revolution started John Kerry waived normal conditions to make sure that Egypt got 1.3 billion in additional aid from us.When did the Egypt/USA prisoner exchange theory first gain some credibility? Great theory, but how can we prove anything when no one is talking?Continued >>

Will Survivor David Ubben Blow Roof Off 'Phony' Benghazi Scandal?Fox News interviewed David Ubben at Walter Reed, showing only his blurred-out faceScandal: The former commander of special operations in North Africa says he, like our president, was incommunicado during the Benghazi attack. We may soon hear from the hero who survived 20 hours waiting for help.During the second wave of attacks on Benghazi, diplomatic security agent David Ubben was on the roof of the CIA annex with two former Navy SEALS. Eventually, several rounds of mortar attacks found their mark, killing Tyrone Woods and Glen Doherty while shredding Ubben's right leg.Ubben was stuck on that rooftop for 20 hours before help finally arrived. He can tell us and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "what difference does it make"that help was not sent — at least two American lives. Ubben sustained injuries at Benghazi so severe he's still being treated at Walter Reed Army Medical Center..Rep. Darrel Issa's House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has tried to interview Ubben as part of its Benghazi scandal investigation, but the State Department has not allowed the meeting, according to Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah.."While initially they said they would be helpful, pretty quickly they turned that off," Chaffetz reported. "And I had a meeting scheduled to go visit this ... young man and then I was denied." State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki denies Chaffetz's claim, saying State has been fully cooperative.Another Republican congressman, Frank Wolf of Virginia, who has gathered a majority of Republicans in the House in support of a select committee to investigate Benghazi, recently sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry complaining that the State Department has refused for months to provide Congress with the names and contact information of the survivors.Ubben entered the smoke- and flame-filled Benghazi consulate several times in an attempt to rescue his fellow Americans. First, he recovered the body of Foreign Service Officer Sean Smith. He also went searching for Ambassador Chris Stevens but couldn't find him.With more hearings scheduled on Benghazi this fall, some lawmakers hope Ubben will feel he's well enough to publicly testify, because he's one of the few survivors to witness both waves of the attack.It was hoped that Col. George H. Bristol, former commander of Marine Corps special forces in Africa, could help explain to Ubben and to us why he had to wait on a roof in Benghazi for 20 hours for help to finally arrive.Bristol was in charge of special operations forces in Northern Africa on the night of the Benghazi terrorist attack. He gave closed-door congressional testimony on Wednesday in which he said he was traveling in Africa at the time of the Benghazi attack and unreliable communications kept him from participating in the attack response, or lack of one.Which raises the interesting question of how our African commander traveling in Africa was unable to coordinate a response to a terrorist attack in Africa. Of course, President Obama also did not participate in the attack "response" and the timeline of his activities that night still remains a mystery.Command responsibility during his unavailability was in the hands of Lt. Col. S.E. Gibson who reportedly had earlier said he was at no point ordered to "stand down" but rather to remain in Tripoli to defend the American Embassy.Presumably he was ordered to handle any spontaneous demonstrations in Tripoli spawned by a hateful Internet video. But isn't an order to stay put an order to "stand down"?Perhaps Ubben can explain what he knows about why he had to lie on that rooftop for 20 hours. "Thank you very much for what you've done," Pat Smith, mother of the slain Sean Smith, said upon hearing of Ubben's actions, her voice filled with gratitude but also anger. "Why couldn't the government have done the same thing?"Why indeed, Mr. President? We're still waiting for a real answer.

The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald Says 'Low-Level' NSA Workers Can Tap into Phone, Internet Records The journalist who has published a string of reports based on documents from National Security Agency leaker Ed Snowden claims he has evidence that "low-level" analysts have easy access to a database that lets them browse the phone, email and Internet histories of anyone.The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald, who is scheduled to speak before a bipartisan congressional group on Wednesday, said he plans to publish a report on the latest findings later this week.Though some top officials have denied the NSA offers this kind of access to its workers, Greenwald said that's not true. In an interview on ABC News' "This Week," Greenwald said "low-level" employees as well as contractors like Snowden can dip into a vast system of information on peoples' communications.He likened the database to a supermarket cash register."The NSA has trillions of telephone calls and emails in their databases that they have collected over the last several years," he said. "And what these programs are, are very simple screens like the ones that supermarket clerks or shipping and receiving clerks use where all an analyst has to do is enter an email address or an IP address and it does two things -- it searches that database and let's them listen to the calls or read the emails of everything that the NSA has stored, or look at the browsing histories or Google search terms that you've entered."Greenwald said that unlike with other surveillance programs, there is no special court determining whether analysts can review Internet and phone records."It's an incredibly powerful and invasive tool exactly of the type that Mr. Snowden described ... and I defy them to deny that these programs work exactly as I just said," Greenwald said.On the same program, Republican Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss said he just visited the NSA and was assured that "there is no capability at NSA for anyone without a court order to listen to any telephone conversation or to monitor any email." Continued >>

House Panel Shocked to Find Obama IRS Appointee Danny Werfel 'Is Doing His Job'— STONEWALLING PROBE!Acting IRS Commissioner Danny WerfelThe House’s chief investigative committee on Tuesday accused the IRS of stonewalling its probe into the agency's unfair targeting of Tea Party groups and other politically-affiliated organizations, saying Congress has received only a fraction of the documents it requested and many of those are useless.The House Oversight and Government Affairs Committee letter directly blames acting Commissioner Danny Werfel for the “systematic manner” in which his agency has “attempted to delay, frustrate, impede and obstruct” the committee’s investigation, despite his promising just weeks earlier to fully cooperate.“The actions of the IRS under your leadership have made clear to the committee that the agency has no intention of complying completely or promptly with the committee’s oversight efforts,” wrote committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif.The letter also states that obstructing a congressional investigation “is a crime” and that the committee will be forced to use a “compulsory process” should the IRS continue to use its tactics.A high-ranking committee staffer told FoxNews.com that process could include subpoenas.The letter was sent as the Republican-led committee continues to try to learn more about the targeting, including who at the agency’s Washington headquarters might have known about, led or coordinated the activity and whether it was politically motivated.It cites at least three instances in which the IRS has failed to comply, since revelations in May that the IRS unfairly targeted the groups from 2010 through 2012 when they were applying for tax-exempt status.The agency has turned over just 12,000 pages of the roughly 64 million pages it deemed potentially relevant to the investigation, Issa said. Furthermore, many of the documents are duplicates and so excessively redacted that they are “completely unintelligible and useless,” according to the letter. Continued >>

Media Can't Ignore New Developments In IRS ScandalIRS-Gate: From stonewalling Congress to Federal Election Commission collusion to harassment of already-tax-exempt conservative groups, the IRS scandal metastasizes. Someone high-up was clearly giving orders.'Phony scandals," to use President Obama's term, should not generate near-daily news coverage from a media that would like nothing better than to see its dream president let off the hook. Yet everywhere you look comes another bolt of lightning keeping this Frankenstein monster "alive!":

● In addition to conservative organizations being ultra-scrutinized in applying for tax-exempt status, existing conservative groups like Morton Blackwell's Leadership Institute, around since 1979, and the Claire Booth Luce Policy Institute, founded in 1993, were slammed with costly audits by Obama's IRS in the months before the 2012 election. ● With the IRS providing just a fraction of the documents requested, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., on Tuesday accused acting IRS commissioner Danny Werfel of systematically attempting "to delay, frustrate, impede and obstruct" the panel's probe. ● National Review reports that on-leave IRS tax-exempt division head Lois Lerner was in e-mail contact with at least one attorney at the Federal Election Commission — where she used to work — to whom she apparently gave tax status information of a conservative group, the American Future Fund, before the FEC lawyer recommended "that the commission prosecute it for violations of campaign-finance law." The FEC also asked about the conservative American Issues Project. ● A House Ways and Means Committee analysis found conservative groups were asked three times as many questions by the IRS and had longer delays than left-wing groups seeking tax-exempt status. ● A June 26 letter made public last Thursday from the IRS inspector general to House Ways and Means Ranking Democrat Sander Levin of Michigan "makes it clear the inspector general believes Tea Party groups did have it worse than progressives," the left-leaning National Public Radio conceded. ● While President Obama claimed when the IRS scandal came to light in May that "It's inexcusable ... and I'm angry about it," Politico reports this week that tax-exempt organizations commissioner Sarah Hall Ingram received "bonuses of $26,550 to $35,400 in fiscal years 2010, 2011, and 2012 ... 15 to 20% of her annual salary," while Lerner from 2006 to 2012 "was paid a combined total of $110,035 in bonuses." And senior IRS official Faris Fink, better known as Mr. Spock in the IRS' taxpayer-funded "Star Trek" parody, got "$149,506 in bonuses between 2007 and 2012." Clearly, someone above them was pleased. ● Appearing on Fox News Sunday, Treasury Secretary and ex-White House chief of staff Jack Lew didn't sound like someone sure that the IRS probes would find nothing: "I'm not saying it's done. We will cooperate with all of the ongoing investigations." ● At his "phony scandals" press briefing a week ago Tuesday, White House crisis manager Jay Carney was so intent on distracting reporters from IRS-gate and the other Obama scandals, he uttered the term "middle class" no fewer than 17 times — astonishing, considering that median household income is down 5%, almost $3,000, from the year Obama took office.

Lew, Carney and Obama himself act like people worried about a threat lying a little farther under investigators' shovels. And they should be considering the suspicious timeline of Obama-appointed IRS chief counsel William Wilkins visiting the president on April 23 last year; IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman visiting the White House the next day; and Wilkins' office sending the IRS "guidance" on the Tea Party the day after that.The IRS is one of the most powerful, frightening arms of the U.S. government. ObamaCare, about to be implemented, will mean "an unprecedented and unauthorized expansion of IRS power," bypassing Congress' constitutionally defined taxing powers, warns a soon-to-be-released book, "Impeachable Offenses."If we find our tax-collection agency helped re-elect a president under political orders, Watergate could look trivial by comparison.

Snooper-in-Chief Victorious— 4th Amendment Big LoserHouse Votes to Continue Collection of Phone Records of All Americans (217-205)SEE FINAL VOTE RESULTS: How did your Congresscritter vote? Does he/she have your back?

By Glenn Greenwald -- One of the worst myths Democratic partisans love to tell themselves - and everyone else - is that the GOP refuses to support President Obama no matter what he does. Like its close cousin - the massively deceitful inside-DC grievance that the two parties refuse to cooperate on anything - it's hard to overstate how false this Democratic myth is. When it comes to foreign policy, war, assassinations, drones, surveillance, secrecy, and civil liberties, President Obama's most stalwart, enthusiastic defenders are often found among the most radical precincts of the Republican Party.The rabidly pro-war and anti-Muslim GOP former Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, Peter King, has repeatedly lavished Obama with all sorts of praise and support for his policies in those areas. The Obama White House frequently needs, and receives, large amounts of GOP Congressional support to have its measures enacted or bills its dislikes defeated. The Obama DOJ often prevails before the US Supreme Court solely because the Roberts/Scalia/Thomas faction adopts its view while the Ginsburg/Sotomayor/Breyer faction rejects it (as happened in February when the Court, by a 5-4 ruling, dismissed a lawsuit brought by Amnesty and the ACLU which argued that the NSA's domestic warrantless eavesdropping activities violate the Fourth Amendment; the Roberts/Scalia wing accepted the Obama DOJ's argument that the plaintiffs lack standing to sue because the NSA successfully conceals the identity of which Americans are subjected to the surveillance). As Wired put it at the time about that NSA ruling:The 5-4 decision by Justice Samuel Alito was a clear victory for the President Barack Obama administration, which like its predecessor, argued that government wiretapping laws cannot be challenged in court."The extraordinary events that took place in the House of Representatives yesterday are perhaps the most vivid illustration yet of this dynamic, and it independently reveals several other important trends. The House voted on an amendment sponsored by Justin Amash, the young Michigan lawyer elected in 2010 as a Tea Party candidate, and co-sponsored by John Conyers, the 24-term senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee. The amendment was simple. It would de-fund one single NSA program: the agency's bulk collection of the telephone records of all Americans that we first revealed in this space, back on June 6. It accomplished this "by requiring the FISA court under Sec. 215 [of the Patriot Act] to order the production of records that pertain only to a person under investigation".The amendment yesterday was defeated. But it lost by only 12 votes: 205-217. Given that the amendment sought to de-fund a major domestic surveillance program of the NSA, the very close vote was nothing short of shocking. In fact, in the post-9/11 world, amendments like this, which directly challenge the Surveillance and National Security States, almost never get votes at all. That the GOP House Leadership was forced to allow it to reach the floor was a sign of how much things have changed over the last seven weeks.More significant than the closeness of the vote was its breakdown. A majority of House Democrats supported the Amash/Conyers amendment, while a majority of Republicans voted against it:The full roll call vote is here. House Speaker John Boehner saved the Obama White House by voting against it and ensuring that his top leadership whipped against it. As the New York Times put it in its account of yesterday's vote:Conservative Republicans leery of what they see as Obama administration abuses of power teamed up with liberal Democrats long opposed to intrusive intelligence programs. The Obama administration made common cause with the House Republican leadership to try to block it.In reality, the fate of the amendment was sealed when the Obama White House on Monday night announced its vehement opposition to it, and then sent NSA officials to the House to scare members that barring the NSA from collecting all phone records of all Americans would Help The Terrorists.Using Orwellian language so extreme as to be darkly hilarious, this was the first line of the White House's statement opposing the amendment: "In light of the recent unauthorized disclosures, the President has said that he welcomes a debate about how best to simultaneously safeguard both our national security and the privacy of our citizens" (i.e.: we welcome the debate that has been exclusively enabled by that vile traitor, the same debate we've spent years trying to prevent with rampant abuse of our secrecy powers that has kept even the most basic facts about our spying activities concealed from the American people).The White House then condemned Amash/Conyers this way: "This blunt approach is not the product of an informed, open, or deliberative process." What a multi-level masterpiece of Orwellian political deceit that sentence is. The highly surgical Amash/Conyers amendment - which would eliminate a single, specific NSA program of indiscriminate domestic spying - is a "blunt approach", but the Obama NSA's bulk, indiscriminate collection of all Americans' telephone records is not a "blunt approach". Even worse: Amash/Conyers - a House bill debated in public and then voted on in public - is not an "open or deliberative process", as opposed to the Obama administration's secret spying activities and the secret court that blesses its secret interpretations of law, which is "open and deliberative". That anyone can write a statement like the one that came from the Obama White House without dying of shame, or giggles, is impressive. Continued >>FOLLOW THE MONEY: Defense and Intelligence Contractors Got What They Paid For!

By David Kravets -- The numbers tell the story — in votes and dollars. On Wednesday, the House voted 217 to 205 not to rein in the NSA’s phone-spying dragnet. It turns out that those 217 “no” voters received twice as much campaign financing from the defense and intelligence industry as the 205 “yes” voters.That’s the upshot of a new analysis by MapLight, a Berkeley-based non-profit that performed the inquiry at WIRED’s request.The investigation shows that defense cash was a better predictor of a member’s vote on the Amash amendment than party affiliation. House members who voted to continue the massive phone-call-metadata spy program, on average, raked in 122 percent more money from defense contractors than those who voted to dismantle it.Overall, political action committees and employees from defense and intelligence firms such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, United Technologies, Honeywell International, and others ponied up $12.97 million in donations for a two-year period ending December 31, 2012, according to the analysis, which MapLight performed with financing data from OpenSecrets.Lawmakers who voted to continue the NSA dragnet-surveillance program averaged $41,635 from the pot, whereas House members who voted to repeal authority averaged $18,765.Of the top 10 money getters, only one House member — Rep. Jim Moran (D-Virginia) — voted to end the program.“How can we trust legislators to vote in the public interest when they are dependent on industry campaign funding to get elected? Our broken money and politics system forces lawmakers into a conflict of interest between lawmakers’ voters and their donors,” said Daniel G. Newman, MapLight’s president and co-founder.The Guardian newspaper disclosed the phone-metadata spying last month with documents leaked by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.The House voted 205-217
Wednesday and defeated an amendment to the roughly $600 billion Department of Defense Appropriations Act of 2014 that would have ended authority for the once-secret spy program the White House insisted was necessary to protect national security.The amendment
(.pdf) was proposed by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Michigan), who received a fraction of the money from the defense industry compared to top earners. For example, Amash got $1,400 — ranking him in the bottom 50 for the two-year period. On the flip side, Rep. Howard McKeon (R-California) scored $526,600 to lead the House in defense contributions. He voted against Amash.Of the 26 House members who voted and did not receive any defense financing, 16 voted for the Amash amendment.House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) voted against the measure. He ranked 15th in defense earnings with a $131,000 take. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) also voted against Amash. Pelosi took in $47,000 from defense firms over the two-year period.Ninety-four Republicans voted for the amendment
as did 111 Democrats.The Amash amendment was in response to the disclosure of a leaked copy of a top-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinion requiring Verizon Business to provide the National Security Agency the phone numbers of both parties involved in all calls, the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) number for mobile callers, calling card numbers used in the call, and the time and duration of the calls.The government confirmed the authenticity of the leak and last week suggested many more, or “certain telecommunication service providers
” are required to fork over the same type of metadata. The government says it needs all the data to sift out terrorist needles in a haystack. The program began shortly after the 2001 terror attacks.The vote list follows. (A “no” vote is a vote to continue the NSA’s phone spying.)Unbowed, Foes of Spying Program Vow to Fight OnOpponents of the National Security Agency's collection of hundreds of millions of Americans' phone records insist they will press ahead with their challenge to the massive surveillance program after a narrow defeat in the House. Furious lobbying and last-minute pleas to lawmakers ensured victory for the Obama administration as the House voted 217-205 Wednesday to spare the NSA program. Unbowed, the libertarian-leaning conservatives, tea partyers and liberal Democrats who led the fight said they will try to undo a program they called an unconstitutional intrusion on civil liberties. Continued >>

Obama Regime Tells Google, Yahoo, Apple, Facebook, AOL, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast to Hand Over User Account PasswordsBy Declan McCullagh -- The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet companies divulge users' stored passwords, according to two industry sources familiar with these orders, which represent an escalation in surveillance techniques that has not previously been disclosed.If the government is able to determine a person's password, which is typically stored in encrypted form, the credential could be used to log in to an account to peruse confidential correspondence or even impersonate the user. Obtaining it also would aid in deciphering encrypted devices in situations where passwords are reused."I've certainly seen them ask for passwords," said one Internet industry source who spoke on condition of anonymity. "We push back."A second person who has worked at a large Silicon Valley company confirmed that it received legal requests from the federal government for stored passwords. Companies "really heavily scrutinize" these requests, the person said. "There's a lot of 'over my dead body.'"Some of the government orders demand not only a user's password but also the encryption algorithm and the so-called salt, according to a person familiar with the requests. A salt is a random string of letters or numbers used to make it more difficult to reverse the encryption process and determine the original password. Other orders demand the secret question codes often associated with user accounts."This is one of those unanswered legal questions: Is there any circumstance under which they could get password information?" --Jennifer Granick, Stanford UniversityA Microsoft spokesperson would not say whether the company has received such requests from the government. But when asked whether Microsoft would divulge passwords, salts, or algorithms, the spokesperson replied: "No, we don't, and we can't see a circumstance in which we would provide it."Google also declined to disclose whether it had received requests for those types of data. But a spokesperson said the company has "never" turned over a user's encrypted password, and that it has a legal team that frequently pushes back against requests that are fishing expeditions or are otherwise problematic. "We take the privacy and security of our users very seriously," the spokesperson said.A Yahoo spokeswoman would not say whether the company had received such requests. The spokeswoman said: "If we receive a request from law enforcement for a user's password, we deny such requests on the grounds that they would allow overly broad access to our users' private information. If we are required to provide information, we do so only in the strictest interpretation of what is required by law."Apple, Facebook, AOL, Verizon, AT&T, Time Warner Cable, and Comcast did not respond to queries about whether they have received requests for users' passwords and how they would respond to them.Richard Lovejoy, a director of the Opera Software subsidiary that operates FastMail, said he doesn't recall receiving any such requests but that the company still has a relatively small number of users compared with its larger rivals. Because of that, he said, "we don't get a high volume" of U.S. government demands. The FBI declined to comment.Some details remain unclear, including when the requests began and whether the government demands are always targeted at individuals or seek entire password database dumps. The Patriot Act has been used to demand entire database dumps of phone call logs, and critics have suggested its use is broader. "The authority of the government is essentially limitless" under that law, Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who serves on the Senate Intelligence committee, said at a Washington event this week.Large Internet companies have resisted the government's requests by arguing that "you don't have the right to operate the account as a person," according to a person familiar with the issue. "I don't know what happens when the government goes to smaller providers and demands user passwords," the person said.An attorney who represents Internet companies said he has not fielded government password requests, but "we've certainly had reset requests -- if you have the device in your possession, than a password reset is the easier way." Continued >>

BOOK: "A Government of Wolves:The Emerging American Police State"Whitehead: "We're moving into an electronic concentration camp"

"A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State" (Amazon - $19.02, Pub. Date: June 25)The U.S. government's growing surveillance of Americans has transformed the nation into an "electronic concentration camp," top civil-liberties attorney John W. Whitehead says."It's moving so rapidly you have to feel creepy because you're being watched. Everybody has a file if you do anything electronically," Whitehead, author the new book "A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State," told Newsmax TV. "We're moving into an electronic concentration camp . . . We live in a police state, essentially, one where they're watching us and the information can and is being used against certain people."Whitehead — who founded the Rutherford Institute in Virginia, which helps promote civil liberties and human rights — has been researching the growth of the National Security Agency since the 1980s.The agency has been under fire for its collection of phone and email records — secret programs that were leaked to the press by one of its former contractors, Edward Snowden.In the 1980s, "they were already doing internal spying on American citizens, recording phone calls, doing wire taps, which again they're supposed to be conducting foreign intelligence, not internal," Whitehead said."The agency's grown rapidly, especially since 9/11 and more rapidly under President [Barack] Obama," Whitehead said.Just how rapidly is astonishing, according to Whitehead."It now has a Utah facility that has a computer, as I'm told by NSA personnel … that downloads 1 trillion bits of information from the Internet every month and probably more," he said. "That's your banking records, anything you do digital – electronic banking, text messages, Facebook, any of that stuff is parched by the computer and given to the agents."The FBI and the Department of Homeland Security are involved in the same type of surveillance, he said.The recent revelations are an egregious violation of the Bill of Rights, particularly the Fourth Amendment, according to the author."The Fourth Amendment requires probable cause before surveillance can be conducted on American citizens, which means you have to have evidence if you're a government agent … that you're going to commit a crime," Whitehead said. "None of that's available and they're just swooping in our nests looking at bank records and things like that."Just as alarming to Whitehead is the fact that communications giants like Verizon, Microsoft, and AT&T, which store the data, hand it over to the government."You can call it a corporate spying center and that's exactly what it is — millions upon millions of bits of data collected on average American citizens," he said.Whitehead said the idea of unwarranted surveillance is nothing new and that America's Founding Fathers came up with protections after being persecuted by the British.The British "went into homes, they spied on people, and they did illegal searches and seizures," he said.His book details how many of the people being spied on are simply people exercising their free speech rights."Martin Luther King is a good example. The FBI in the '60s collected 17,000 pages of information, wiretapping, following … King to try to discredit him," Whitehead said."Today before peace marches … the FBI is swooping into apartments, rummaging through materials, trying to find things that they can use against these so-called anti-war activists and how they know about that is through the electronic snooping."In the immigration reform bill now being debated in Congress, one idea is to fly drones — now used to kill terrorists oversees — to monitor the U.S.-Mexico border for illegal crossers.It's an alarming prospect that Whitehead said Americans must get used to."There's not going to be any drone-free zones in America. You can be against them but you might as well get used to them," he said."They're going to be equipped with lasers, Tasers, sound cannons, rubber bullets and those kind of things. I fear free speech protests are going to be put down very, very easily," he said, adding that tactic may roundly discourage protesters from exercising their rights of free speech.The other alarming trend with drones is how small and precise they are becoming, according to Whitehead."There's a mosquito drone that can actually land on you. It's a prototype, and inject you with something," he said."There's the switchblade drone that flies through the air, stops at your head, and explodes. Those things will not be used beneficially in my opinion," he said.For example, Whitehead said, a person at home cleaning their legitimately-owned shotgun can be targeted by a drone with a super-sensitive scanning device."It can actually see through the walls of your home … just like the TSA scanners [at airports]. It records an image and shoots it to the police," he said."If your records are not well kept in the sense that you've proven that you legally own that gun, you're going to get a raid at your home. So those kinds of things are in the future," he warned.Despite the chilling and bleak scenarios Whitehead's book portrays, it says that there may be some light at the end of the tunnel."The most promising movement I'm seeing is a lot of young people today, 20s, early 30s, even young NSA employees and people working in the Secret Service," Whitehead said."I had an NSA employee tell me not too long ago … 'Your generation really screwed things up; we're going to try to make it right.' "He calls himself a Constitutionalist. He doesn't like what the NSA is doing. He wants to fix it from the inside. That's a good way to do it," the author said.Whitehead also urged Americans to study their rights under the Bill of Rights and make sure their children are informed."Most Americans … don't know what's in the Fourth Amendment, the First Amendment," he said."Our schools don't do a good job of teaching civil liberties anymore, or even civics. Education precedes action," he said.Whitehead’s book "A Government of Wolves: The Emerging American Police State," is published by Select Books.

By James S. Robbins -- Would you trust thousands
of low-level Federal bureaucrats and contractors with one-touch access to your private financial and medical information? Under Obamacare you won’t have any choice.As the Obamacare train-wreck begins to gather steam, there is increasing concern in Congress over something called the Federal Data Services Hub.The Data Hub is a comprehensive database of personal information being established by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to implement the federally facilitated health insurance exchanges.The purpose of the Data Hub, according to a June 2013 Government Accountability Office (GAO) report, is to provide “electronic, near real-time access to federal data” and “access to state and third party data sources needed to verify consumer-eligibility information.” In these days of secret domestic surveillance by the intelligence community, rogue IRS officials and state tax agencies using private information for political purposes, and police electronically logging every license plate that passes by, the idea of the centralized Data Hub is making lawmakers and citizens nervous.They certainly should be; the potential for abuse is enormous. The massive, centralized database will include comprehensive personal information such as income and financial data, family size, citizenship and immigration status, incarceration status, social security numbers, and private health information. It will compile dossiers based on information obtained from the IRS, the Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Defense, the Veterans Administration, the Office of Personnel Management, the Social Security Administration, state Medicaid databases, and for some reason the Peace Corps. The Data Hub will provide web-based, one-stop shopping for prying into people’s personal affairs.Not to fear, HHS says, the Data Hub will be completely secure Really? Secure like all the information that has been made public in the Wikileaks era? These days no government agency can realistically claim that private information will be kept private, especially when it is being made so accessible. Putting everyone’s personal information in once place only simplifies the challenge for those looking to hack into the system.However, the hacker threat is the least of the Data Hub worries. The hub will be used on a daily basis by so-called Navigators, which according to the GAO are “community and consumer-focused nonprofit groups, to which exchanges award grants to provide fair and impartial public education” and “refer consumers as appropriate for further assistance.”Thousands of such people will have unfettered access to the Data Hub, but there are only sketchy guidelines on how they will be hired, trained and monitored. Given the slap-dash, incoherent way Obamacare is being implemented the prospect for quality control is low. And the Obama administration’s track record of sweetheart deals, no-bid, sole-source contracting and other means of rewarding people with insider access means the Data Hub will be firmly in the hands of trusted White House loyalists.So if you think the IRS targeting Tea Party groups was bad, just wait for the Obamacare Navigators to be unleashed. “Trust us,” the administration says, no one will abuse the Data Hub. Sure, because that has worked out so well in the past.James S. Robbins is Deputy Editor of Rare and author of Native Americans: Patriotism, Exceptionalism, and the New American Identity. Follow him on Twitter @James_Robbins

Coup D’Etat — The Executive Branch Coup Against America Has Unfortunately SucceededAn unconstitutional government is an illegitimate government.

By Paul Craig Roberts -- The American people have suffered a coup d’etat, but they are hesitant to acknowledge it. The regime ruling in Washington today lacks constitutional and legal legitimacy. Americans are ruled by usurpers who claim that the executive branch is above the law and that the U.S. Constitution is a mere “scrap of paper.”An unconstitutional government is an illegitimate government. The oath of allegiance requires defense of the Constitution “against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” As the Founding Fathers made clear, the main enemy of the Constitution is the government itself. Power does not like to be bound and tied down and constantly works to free itself from constraints.The basis of the regime in Washington is nothing but usurped power. The Obama Regime, like the Bush/Cheney Regime, has no legitimacy. Americans are oppressed by an illegitimate government ruling, not by law and the Constitution, but by lies and naked force. Those in government see the U.S. Constitution as a “chain that binds our hands.”The South African apartheid regime was more legitimate than the regime in Washington. The apartheid Israeli regime in Palestine is more legitimate. The Taliban are more legitimate. Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein were more legitimate.The only constitutional protection that the Bush/Obama regime has left standing is the Second Amendment, a meaningless amendment considering the disparity in arms between Washington and what is permitted to the citizenry. No citizen standing with a rifle can protect himself and his family from one of the Department of Homeland Security’s 2,700 tanks, or from a drone, or from a heavily armed SWAT force in body armor.Like serfs in the dark ages, American citizens can be picked up on the authority of some unknown person in the executive branch and thrown in a dungeon, subject to torture, without any evidence ever being presented to a court or any information to the person’s relatives of his/her whereabouts. Or they can be placed on a list without explanation that curtails their right to travel by air. Every communication of every American, except face-to-face conversation in non-bugged environments, is intercepted and recorded by the National Stasi Agency from which phrases can be strung together to produce a “domestic extremist.”If throwing an American citizen in a dungeon is too much trouble, the citizen can simply be blown up with a hellfire missile launched from a drone. No explanation is necessary.For the Obama tyrant, the exterminated human being was just a name on a list.The president of the united states has declared that he possesses these constitutionally forbidden rights, and his regime has used them to oppress and murder U.S. citizens. The president’s claim that his will is higher than law and the Constitution is public knowledge. Yet, there is no demand for the usurper’s impeachment. Congress is supine. The serfs are obedient.The people who helped transform a democratically accountable president into a Caesar include John Yoo, who was rewarded for his treason by being accepted as a law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, Boalt school of law. Yoo’s colleague in treason, Jay Scott Bybee was rewarded by being appointed a federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. We now have a Berkeley law professor teaching, and a federal circuit judge ruling, that the executive branch is above the law.The executive branch coup against America has succeeded. The question is: will it stand? Today, the executive branch consists of liars, criminals, and traitors. The evil on earth seems concentrated in Washington.Washington’s response to Edward Snowden’s evidence that Washington, in total contravention of law both domestic and international, is spying on the entire world has demonstrated to every country that Washington places the pleasure of revenge above law and human rights.On Washington’s orders, its European puppet states refused overflight permission to the Bolivian presidential airliner carrying President Morales and forced the airliner to land in Austria and be searched. Washington thought that Edward Snowden might be aboard the airliner. Capturing Snowden was more important to Washington than respect for international law and diplomatic immunity.How long before Washington orders its UK puppet to send in a SWAT team to drag Julian Assange from the Ecuadoran embassy in London and hand him over to the CIA for waterboarding?On July 12 Snowden met in the Moscow airport with human rights organizations from around the world. He stated that the illegal exercise of power by Washington prevents him from traveling to any of the three Latin American countries who have offered him asylum. Therefore, Snowden said that he accepted Russian President Putin’s conditions and requested asylum in Russia.Insouciant americans and the young unaware of the past don’t know what this means. During my professional life it was Soviet Russia that persecuted truth tellers, while America gave them asylum and tried to protect them. Today it is Washington that persecutes those who speak the truth, and it is Russia that protects them.The American public has not, this time, fallen for Washington’s lie that Snowden is a traitor. The polls show that a majority of Americans see Snowden as a whistleblower.It is not the U.S. that is damaged by Snowden’s revelations. It is the criminal elements in the U.S. government that have pulled off a coup against democracy, the Constitution, and the American people who are damaged. It is the criminals who have seized power, not the American people, who are demanding Snowden’s scalp.The Obama Regime, like the Bush/Cheney Regime, has no legitimacy. Americans are oppressed by an illegitimate government ruling, not by law and the Constitution, but by lies and naked force.Under the Obama tyranny, it is not merely Snowden who is targeted for extermination, but every truth-telling American in the country. It was Department of Homeland Security boss Janet Napolitano, recently rewarded for her service to tyranny by being appointed Chancellor of the of the University of California system, who said that Homeland Security had shifted its focus from Muslim terrorists to “domestic extremists,” an elastic and undefined term that easily includes truth-tellers like Bradley Manning and Edward Snowden who embarrass the government by revealing its crimes. The criminals who have seized illegitimate power in Washington cannot survive unless truth can be suppressed or redefined as treason.If Americans acquiesce to the coup d’etat, they will have placed themselves firmly in the grip of tyranny.

Dr. Paul Craig Roberts is the father of Reaganomics and the former head of policy at the Department of Treasury. He is a columnist and was previously the editor of the Wall Street Journal. His latest book, “How the Economy Was Lost: The War of the Worlds,” details why America is disintegrating.

Wow! These files on General Petraeus and Justice Roberts are some juicy! We've hit the jackpot, Barack!

17General Carter Ham Says It Was "Quickly Apparent Benghazi Was a Terrorist Attack"Obama Regime Lied for Nakedly Political ReasonsCourtesy of General Carter Ham, who was head of American forces in Africa at the time of the Benghazi attack, a reminder that President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, and their minions lied shamelessly about the incident.They lied repeatedly, they lied fluently, and they got a friendly “journalist” to help them escape consequences for their lies at the 2012 presidential debates.They lied for nakedly political reasons, to keep the public from becoming aware of the gross incompetence that led to the death of U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans, and to keep Obama’s campaign narrative of a liberated Libya and “decimated” al-Qaeda alive.They lied because they didn’t want to admit Barack Obama wandered off to get some shut-eye before a big Las Vegas fundraiser while the attack was in progress.They lied because they didn’t want to give Obama’s opponent in the presidential race an opening to critique the incumbent’s foreign policy. Their lies offended the new government of Libya, which caused complications when American law-enforcement teams were sent to investigate the scene of the attack. That’s one reason no one has been brought to justice yet.Not since Bill Clinton got caught in an affair with a young intern has an American president lied so brazenly to the American public, and they’re still lying to this day. But here’s the truth from General Ham, who says it “became apparent to all of us quickly that this was not a demonstration, this was a violent attack.” And he was in Washington on the evening of September 11, 2012. Continued >>

Leaked Interview: Whistleblower Carter Hull Says IRS Scandal Was Overseen by Washington, Names NamesWhistleblower Carter Hull IRS Chief Counsel William J. WilkinsRetiring IRS lawyer Carter C. Hull implicated the IRS Chief Counsel’s office,headed by Obama appointee William J. Wilkins, and Lois Lerner, the embattled head of the IRS’ exempt organizations office, in the IRS targeting scandal and made clear that the targeting started in Washington, according to leaked interviews that Hull granted to the Oversight Committee in advance of Thursday’s hearing.Treasury Inspector General J. Russell George will return to Republican chairman Darrell Issa’s committee Thursday along with two central characters in the IRS saga: Hull and Cincinnati-based IRS employee Elizabeth Hofacre, who previously gave Hull’s name to congressional investigators, fingering him as her Washington-based supervisor. Continued >>Meet IRS Chief Counsel William Wilkins: Obama Appointee, Big Donor and Democrat HackBy Michael Warren -- As witnesses have testified to the House Ways and Means Committee, the chief counsel for the Internal Revenue Service may have played a role in the IRS’s practice of reserving special scrutiny for Tea Party and other conservative political groups. William Wilkins, chief counsel and one of two political appointees at the IRS, was “closely involved in some of the applications” for tax-exempt status, according to a press release from the committee.But who is William Wilkins? According to the 2009 announcement of his appointment to the IRS, Wilkins was a registered lobbyist with Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr since 1988. At WilmerHale (the firm's new name after 2003), he was a part of the Tax Practice Group, where he practiced a wide range of tax law services, including “counseling nonprofit organizations, business entities, and investment funds on tax compliance, business transactions, and government investigations.” Before his lobbying career, Wilkins was staff counsel for the Democratic side of the Senate Finance committee, from 1981 to 1988.As Carol Platt Lebieu points out, there are some questions about how the White House was left in the dark about the IRS's probing of conservative groups when its own appointeee appears to have known about the investigations:(1) Is it credible that William J. Wilkins, a well-trained lawyer with a history of counseling 501(c)(3)'s, would have learned of the political targeting of groups and not informed The White House?(2) How is it that the systematic harassment of conservative groups continued at the IRS even after President Obama's man at the IRS knew of the previous targeting as of August 4, 2011?

Unsurprisingly, Wilkins has donated heavily to Democratic candidates and committees since he became a tax lobbyist in 1988. He’s donated in particular to both Democratic and Republican lawmakers in charge of tax law. Those candidates include Finance committee chairmen Lloyd Bentsen, Daniel Patrick Moynihan, and Max Baucus (all Democrats) and Bob Packwood and Chuck Grassley (both Republicans). Other congressional Democrats Wilkins donated to include David Pryor, Bill Bradley, Tom Foley, J.J. Pickle, Paul Simon, John Kerry, John Breaux, Tom Daschle, Dianne Feinstein, Robert Abrams, George Mitchell, Cody Graves, Vic Fazio, Paul Sarbanes, Barbara Kennelly, Bruce Vento, Chris Dodd, Patrick Leahy, Charlie Rangel, Kent Conrad, Tim Johnson, Jack Reed, Blanche Lincoln, Jeff Bingaman, Sherrod Brown, Jay Rockefeller, Brad Miller, Ken Salazar, and Bob Graham. He has also donated to the Democratic Congressional Dinner Commmittee, the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, and other Democratic campaign groups.And in an interesting twist, Wilkins appears to have led the defense team of former Obama pastor Jeremiah Wright and the United Church of Christ in Chicago back in 2008. The UCC was under investigation by the IRS at the time for being violation of its 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status. The Wall Street Journal reports that Wilkins apparently did the legal work for Wright and UCC pro bono.Obama-Appointed IRS Chief Counsel William Wilkins Sued by Christine O’Donnell Who Was Targeted by IRSBy Jeffrey Lord -- So.Buckle in.True the Vote, the Tea Party-style group targeted by Internal Revenue Service officials who are now at the very heart of the IRS scandal, is suing William Wilkins.That would be the William Wilkins who is the IRS Chief Counsel.True the Vote, “the nation’s leading voters’ rights and election integrity organization,” is announcing today that it is adding Wilkins — one of only two Obama political appointees to the IRS — to its federal lawsuit against the IRS. The group is also adding five other ranking IRS officials to the lawsuit as well.“This lawsuit is the only way to get all of the answers involving this national scandal,” said True the Vote’s President Catherine Engelbrecht. Engelbrecht, who was the subject of a report here in May, was the target of federal investigations into both her political group and her manufacturing business after she filed for tax exempt status for her organizations. The group is represented by True the Vote counsel Cleta Mitchell.The other five IRS officials being added to the lawsuit other than Chief Counsel Wilkins are IRS officials Holly Paz, Steve Grodnitzky, David Fish, Michael Seto, and Cindy Thomas. According to the suit, the first four officials “all were directors or in positions of management within the Washington, DC IRS offices during the targeting of conservative, non-profit applicants.”Additionally, the group says “the TIGTA (Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration) Report reveals each was involved in reviewing applications for tax exemption status and developing and reviewing the criteria used to target these applicants.” Thomas was “the Program Manager (highest position) at the IRS Determinations Unit in Cincinnati, OH. The TIGTA Report reveals that she worked directly with Washington, DC officials to implement and supervise the targeting scheme at the Cincinnati IRS office.” The suit was initially filed in May of 2013.Now. This is a story about the Washington game. How it’s played. A story with names and dates — and the IRS. Lois Lerner, the now infamous Director of the IRS Exempt Organizations Division is back. And a new name, that of IRS Chief Counsel William Wilkins, one of two Obama political appointees, is entering the spotlight. There is another familiar name as well — that of the-then Illinois Senator Barack Obama.And there’s one more new name added: that of 2010 GOP Delaware U.S. Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell, a Tea Party favorite.The story begins on June 23rd of 2007. Senator Barack Obama has caused a bit of a problem.It seems that before he announced his candidacy for president, he had accepted an invitation to be a speaker at the General Synod of the United Church of Christ. The Synod, celebrating the 50th anniversary of the creation of the UCC, was to be held with 10,000 UCC pastors and lay leaders in attendance at the Civic Center in Hartford, Connecticut, in June of 2007. Continued >>

The Guardian's Greenwald: Snowden Documents Could Be 'Worst Nightmare' for U.S. Fugitive former U.S. spy contractor Edward Snowden controls dangerous information that could become the United States' "worst nightmare" if revealed, a journalist familiar with the data said in a newspaper interview.Glenn Greenwald, the Guardian journalist who first published the documents Snowden leaked, said in a newspaper interview published on Saturday that the U.S. government should be careful in its pursuit of the former computer analyst. "Snowden has enough information to cause harm to the U.S. government in a single minute than any other person has ever had," Greenwald said in an interview in Rio de Janeiro with the Argentinian daily La Nacion."The U.S. government should be on its knees every day begging that nothing happens to Snowden, because if something does happen to him, all the information will be revealed and it could be its worst nightmare."Snowden, who is sought by Washington on espionage charges after revealing details of secret surveillance programs, has been stranded at a Moscow airport since June 23 and is now seeking refuge in Russia until he can secure safe passage to Latin America, where several counties have offered him asylum. Greenwald told Reuters on Tuesday that Snowden would likely accept asylum in Venezuela, one of three Latin American countries that have made that offer. Continued >>■ Snowden Revelations Stir Anti-US Feeling■ Governments Worldwide Viewing America as Arrogant Superpower■ Secrecy Concerns Mount in 2nd TermThe Spy Game’s Afoot in Hunt for NSA Leaker SnowdenBy Rowan Scarborough -- One twist in the fugitive hunt for asylum-seeking Edward Snowden is that the man who has revealed the most secrets about the National Security Agency in history now is undoubtedly one of its chief targets.A subplot in this international thriller is a cat-and-mouse game: Will the NSA penetrate his communications or will the master leaker outwit all the agency’s high-tech gadgets — since he, as well as anyone, knows how they work? “NSA is probably doing what it does best, which is sweeping the ‘electronicshere’ for communications, voice and data, indicating his next chess move,” former CIA officer Bart Bechtel says. “They may also be looking at known and suspected collaborators.”A second analyst, a former intelligence operative, says that the same methods Mr. Snowden, an ex-NSA contractor, disclosed in documents leaks to the press are now being turned on him. The documents told of super-secret NSA programs to spy on social media such as Facebook and Twitter, bug computers, penetrate telephone cables and scoop up of billions of telephone call records. As Mr. Snowden stays based at the Moscow airport and works with the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks, the Obama administration has at its disposal a wide array of intercept tools for emails, Internet postings and messaging, and cell and land-line phone calls.And since Mr. Snowden is a fugitive, the Justice Department would have no problem in getting a federal court to approve all sorts of wiretaps on him, and perhaps, family members, to try to learn his next move. “Clearly, the courts would approve at this point, and we have a vested interest in finding out what he knows,” says the former operative, who worked with the NSA. “He may be smarter than that, though, and using couriers instead of phone and email. I think that’s what the Wiki clowns are helping with.” In other words, as as an adept in the NSA’s computer networks and how it listens in, Mr. Snowden, a computer whiz, is in a good position to avoid being heard.Glenn Greenwald, who first exposed Mr. Snowden’s leaked documents for stories in the British newspaper The Guardian, wrote that the leaker used an encrypted email computer program. He insisted that Mr. Greenwald install the same technology before he would engage in providing some of the U.S.’ most sensitive, top-secret intelligence collection methods.

By Eric Lichtblau
-- In more than a dozen classified rulings, the nation’s surveillance court has created a secret body of law giving the National Security Agency the power to amass vast collections of data on Americans while pursuing not only terrorism suspects, but also people possibly involved in nuclear proliferation, espionage and cyberattacks, officials say.The rulings, some nearly 100 pages long, reveal that the court has taken on a much more expansive role by regularly assessing broad constitutional questions and establishing important judicial precedents, with almost no public scrutiny, according to current and former officials familiar with the court’s classified decisions.The 11-member Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, known as the FISA court, was once mostly focused on approving case-by-case wiretapping orders. But since major changes in legislation and greater judicial oversight of intelligence operations were instituted six years ago, it has quietly become almost a parallel Supreme Court, serving as the ultimate arbiter on surveillance issues and delivering opinions that will most likely shape intelligence practices for years to come, the officials said. Last month, a former National Security Agency contractor, Edward J. Snowden, leaked a classified order from the FISA court, which authorized the collection of all phone-tracing data from Verizon business customers. But the court’s still-secret decisions go far beyond any single surveillance order, the officials said.“We’ve seen a growing body of law from the court,” a former intelligence official said. “What you have is a common law that develops where the court is issuing orders involving particular types of surveillance, particular types of targets.”In one of the court’s most important decisions, the judges have expanded the use in terrorism cases of a legal principle known as the “special needs” doctrine and carved out an exception to the Fourth Amendment’s requirement of a warrant for searches and seizures, the officials said.The special needs doctrine was originally established in 1989 by the Supreme Court in a ruling allowing the drug testing of railway workers, finding that a minimal intrusion on privacy was justified by the government’s need to combat an overriding public danger. Applying that concept more broadly, the FISA judges have ruled that the N.S.A.’s collection and examination of Americans’ communications data to track possible terrorists does not run afoul of the Fourth Amendment, the officials said.That legal interpretation is significant, several outside legal experts said, because it uses a relatively narrow area of the law — used to justify airport screenings, for instance, or drunken-driving checkpoints — and applies it much more broadly, in secret, to the wholesale collection of communications in pursuit of terrorism suspects. “It seems like a legal stretch,” William C. Banks, a national security law expert at Syracuse University, said in response to a description of the decision. “It’s another way of tilting the scales toward the government in its access to all this data.”While President Obama and his intelligence advisers have spoken of the surveillance programs leaked by Mr. Snowden mainly in terms of combating terrorism, the court has also interpreted the law in ways that extend into other national security concerns. In one recent case, for instance, intelligence officials were able to get access to an e-mail attachment sent within the United States because they said they were worried that the e-mail contained a schematic drawing or a diagram possibly connected to Iran’s nuclear program.In the past, that probably would have required a court warrant because the suspicious e-mail involved American communications. In this case, however, a little-noticed provision in a 2008 law, expanding the definition of “foreign intelligence” to include “weapons of mass destruction,” was used to justify access to the message.The court’s use of that language has allowed intelligence officials to get wider access to data and communications that they believe may be linked to nuclear proliferation, the officials said. They added that other secret findings had eased access to data on espionage, cyberattacks and other possible threats connected to foreign intelligence.“The definition of ‘foreign intelligence’ is very broad,” another former intelligence official said in an interview. “An espionage target, a nuclear proliferation target, that all falls within FISA, and the court has signed off on that.”The official, like a half-dozen other current and former national security officials, discussed the court’s rulings and the general trends they have established on the condition of anonymity because they are classified. Judges on the FISA court refused to comment on the scope and volume of their decisions.Unlike the Supreme Court, the FISA court hears from only one side in the case — the government — and its findings are almost never made public. A Court of Review is empaneled to hear appeals, but that is known to have happened only a handful of times in the court’s history, and no case has ever been taken to the Supreme Court. In fact, it is not clear in all circumstances whether Internet and phone companies that are turning over the reams of data even have the right to appear before the FISA court.Created by Congress in 1978 as a check against wiretapping abuses by the government, the court meets in a secure, nondescript room in the federal courthouse in Washington. All of the current 11 judges, who serve seven-year terms, were appointed to the special court by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., and 10 of them were nominated to the bench by Republican presidents. Most hail from districts outside the capital and come in rotating shifts to hear surveillance applications; a single judge signs most surveillance orders, which totaled nearly 1,800 last year. None of the requests from the intelligence agencies was denied, according to the court. Continued >>Meet Reggie Walton, Chief Justice of America’s Secret Supreme Court (FISA)The chief judge of America’s most powerful secret court is a 64-year-old man who has said his path toward the law began in part when he was stopped by police in the early 1960s simply for being black, and who once said he became a lawyer to “make an impact on the quality of life for people of color in this country.” Reggie Walton is the presiding judge of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, whose 11 members are appointed directly by the chief justice of the Supreme Court. Revelations of broad spying by the National Security Agency have drawn unusual Continued >>

Why Hasn't Anyone Fired Liar James Clapper? WHY!Admitted Liar and Former Director of National Intelligence Testified That NSA Doesn't Collect Data on Millions of AmericansAs the director of national intelligence, James Clapper has told Congress that the regime of Moammar Gadhafi would likely prevail in Libya, that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood party was "largely secular" and that the National Security Agency doesn't collect data on millions of Americans. Not quite.Gadhafi ended up killed by Libyan rebel forces, and the Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi quickly moved to install conservative Islamists into top positions when he became Egypt's president. And Clapper's latest misstep may have dented trust in the chief intelligence officer despite public assurances of support from the White House and key members of Congress.Clapper acknowledged he misspoke when he told the Senate Intelligence Committee in March that U.S. spies do not gather data on Americans — something NSA leaker Edward Snowden revealed as false by releasing documents showing the NSA collects millions of Americans' phone records showing who they called and for how long, as well as some Internet traffic."Clapper is probably job secure for now because (Capitol) Hill is not calling for his removal," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA officer and adviser to the Obama White House who heads the Brookings Intelligence Project research group. "But he now has an unfortunate record. Another misstatement, and he will be a liability."The intelligence director's staying power shows the Obama administration's reluctance to unseat the nation's top spy while the intelligence community is dealing with the fallout of what Snowden, a former NSA systems analyst, has disclosed and what he might still reveal. Asking Clapper to step down would also elevate Snowden by highlighting his claim that senior U.S. officials were lying to Congress about the nature and extent of NSA surveillance programs. Continued >>

Der Spiegel: Snowden Documents Reveal NSA Spied On European Union States at Brussels and UN The United States bugged European Union offices and gained access to EU internal computer networks, the German magazine Der Spiegel reported Saturday, citing NSA documents leaked by Edward Snowden.Der Spiegel cited from a September 2010 "top secret" National Security Agency document that it said the fugitive former NSA contractor had taken with him to Hong Kong and which its journalists had seen in part, Reuters reported.The document outlines how the NSA bugged offices and spied on EU internal computer networks in Washington and at the United Nations, not only listening to conversations and phone calls but also gaining access to documents and emails. The document explicitly called the EU a "target."The revelation is the latest in a cascade of disclosures set off by Snowden's flight.According to Der Spiegel, the NSA also targeted telecommunications at the Justus Lipsius building in Brussels, home to the European Council that groups EU national governments, by using a remote maintenance unit.Without citing sources, the magazine reported that more than five years ago security officers at the EU had noticed and traced several missed calls to NSA offices within the NATO compound in Brussels.Each EU member state has rooms in Justus Lipsius with phone and Internet connections, which ministers can use.The spying methods resemble those reportedly used by the British at the 2009 G20 Summit in London, which saw the UK's Government Communications Headquarters into phones and computers used by heads of state. That surveillance campaign was uncovered by a separate Snowden leak earlier this month.Snowden fled from Hawaii to Hong Kong in May, a few weeks before publication in the Guardian and the Washington Post of details he provided about secret U.S. government surveillance of Internet and phone traffic. He has been holed up in a Moscow airport transit area since last weekend.

Brave IRS Watchdog "Honest George" Knocks Down Demrats Claim that Liberal Groups Were Targeted by IRSIRS Inspector General Russell GeorgeThe government watchdog that exposed IRS targeting of conservative groups gave a blunt response to Democrats' claims that the agency also targeted liberals: It never happened."We found no indication in any of these other materials that 'Progressives' was a term used to refer cases for scrutiny for political campaign intervention," IRS Inspector General J. Russell George wrote in a letter to Democrats.Democrats have since turned on the IG's office, claiming it is only telling half the story.But Republicans used the letter, and a House hearing on Thursday, to counter that narrative -- getting the current IRS chief to confirm that, in fact, there's no evidence to date that progressives were targeted."So far, the evidence only shows conservatives being systematically targeted by the IRS," Rep. Dave Camp, R-Mich., said.Camp pressed the issue as he questioned newly appointed IRS boss Danny Werfel. Citing the IG letter, he asked whether Werfel's own internal report contradicted the claim. "No," Werfel said, while adding "more investigation" is needed.The developments drew the ire of Democrats. Earlier this week, they seized on acknowledgements that progressive groups were also included on so-called "be on the lookout" lists at the IRS.Rep. Sander Levin, D-Mich., maintained at the hearing that the "failure" of the IG report to originally disclose this was a "fundamental flaw" in their investigation. He said it "contributed to the distortion of the entire investigation." Earlier, he said the IG was "not forthright."Democrats argued that by leaving out the detail on progressive groups, it gave Republicans license to cast the scandal as politically motivated."Half of the story has been told for I think for a very political reason and that is to make conservative groups feel as though they are the only ones receiving this heightened scrutiny and treatment and that somehow it must be orchestrated by the White House," Rep. Linda Sanchez, D-Calif., said. "And we believe that that's completely false."But the IG explained that, while liberal groups were on those lists, agents did not then single them out for additional scrutiny. George said this repeatedly in his letter to Levin, noting Tea Party and other conservative groups were processed as "potential political cases" 100 percent of the time.Meanwhile, Republican lawmakers pressed Werfel over his agency's 30-day report that found no intentional wrongdoing at the IRS over the targeting."This report is a sham," Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, said, adding that it was too "unsubstantial" to even call a "whitewash."

Cowardly IRS Manager "Dishonest Greg" Becomes the Second Likely Guilty Agent to Invoke the 5th AmendmentGreg Roseman, Deputy IRS DirectorFor the second time in as many months, a senior IRS manager on Wednesday invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self incrimination, fueling perceptions of an agency in crisis.Greg Roseman, a Deputy IRS Director, spearheaded the awarding of the IRS's largest contract in history to a company owned by a close friend of his, an action that is prohibited under government contracting regulations.The company is Strong Castle, Inc., owned by Braulio Castillo. Castillo won several contracts totaling almost $500 million for IRS IT services in part on the basis of his friendship with Roseman and by qualifying for two minority programs that allow disadvantaged applicants a better chance of winning lucrative government contracts.Castillo qualified for one minority set-aside program by setting up his business in a disadvantaged area of northeast Washington D.C. The Small Business Administration program requires applicants to hire from within the economically disadvantaged community, but a House Oversight Committee report found that Castillo manipulated that requirement by hiring students from Catholic University. The school’s campus lies within the designated boundary, but its students are, on balance, far from disadvantaged.He won entrance into another minority set-aside program run by the Veterans Administration that gives disabled vets certain advantages in federal contracting. His disability? An ankle twisted during football at the US Military Academy Prep School 27 years ago.That prompted a sarcastic reaction at Wednesday’s House Oversight Committee hearing from a double amputee, Congresswoman Tammy Duckworth, an Iraq war vet. "I'm so glad that you would be willing to play football in prep school again to protect this great country. Shame on you, Mr. Castillo, shame on you," she said.As evidence of their close friendship, the committee published text messages between Roseman and Castillo. The two men apparently found kinship in using homophobic slurs. One exchange reads, "Paging Dr. Faggot." The response reads, "Queerbait. How come u haven't called back? Ain't got all day. Lol."Roseman is still employed by the IRS. That fact prompted a testy exchange between Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-S.C., and Beth Tucker, the IRS's Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support."Can you issue a statement by five o'clock today as to how someone who used this language in their official capacity as a government employee is still employed and drawing a paycheck?" Gowdy asked. "We are having discussions with our general counsel," Tucker responded.On Friday, there will be more IRS focus on the Hill. The committee will vote whether it believes Lois Lerner waived her Fifth Amendment rights against self-incrimination when she invoked that right, then abruptly proclaimed her innocence. It was a maneuver that some on the panel say amounted to waiving the right.

House Committee Votes to Hold IRS Witch Lois Lerner in Contempt An IRS official effectively waived her right not to testify about the tax agency’s targeting of conservative groups, a Republican-led congressional committee concluded on Friday in a vote that cleared the way for Congress to hold her in contempt.Lois Lerner, former head of the Internal Revenue Service’s tax-exempt division, angered Republicans last month when she invoked her constitutional right not to answer their questions at a hearing. The committee is investigating the IRS’s admission that it subjected applications for tax exempt status from groups with "Tea Party" or "Patriot" in their names to special scrutiny.

Putin Says Snowden Is Still In the Moscow Airport, and Won't Be ExtraditedUPDATE: While on a trip to Finland today, Russian President Vladimir Putin told reporters that wanted NSA Leaker Edward Snowden is still in the transit area of Moscow's airport, and thus, technically not on Russian soil. He also confirmed that Russian law enforcement will not arrest him or extradite him to the United States, saying he is "a free man," but the sooner he chooses his final destination, the better.Putin also deployed one of the better similes we've heard in a while: "In any case, I would like not to deal with such issues because it is like shearing a pig: there's lots of squealing and little fleece."ORIGINAL POST: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says Edward Snowden is none of their business and American attempts to blame his country for harboring him are "groundless and unacceptable."On Tuesday, Lavrov fought back against accusations that his government had allowed Snowden to use Moscow as safe haven, by insisting that Snowden "did not cross the Russian border," an implication that the fugitive has never left the "transit area" of Sheremetyevo Airport and is therefore in a diplomatic no-man's land.Lavrov was responding to demands from his counterpart, Secretary of State John Kerry, who demanded that Russia hand over Snowden, saying "I think it's very important to them to adhere to the rule of law and respect the relationship." In return, Lavrov claimed Moscow had nothing to do with his travel plans from Hong Kong, have no cause or legal basis to arrest him, and don't appreciate the accusations. "There is no lawful basis for this kind of behavior from American officials," he said.For his part, Kerry tried to dial back the rhetoric on Tuesday, saying there's no need for a heated confrontation between the two countries. However, he probably should have told John McCain before the Arizona Senator went on CNN and called Russian President Vladimir Putin "old KGB colonel apparatchik that dreams of the days of the Russian empire."Meanwhile, no one even knows if Lavrov is telling the truth about the Russian border, because there are no confirmed reports that Snowden even made it to Moscow or if he is still there. No one has taken a picture of him, or proved that they've spoken to him, even if the U.S. says, officially, that they believe he is still in Russia. We know don't if Snowden's plan was to get the governments of the world mad at each other instead of him, but if it was, then it's worked like a charm.Want to add to this story? Let us know in comments or send an email to the author at dbennett at theatlantic dot com. You can share ideas for stories on the Open Wire.Nicaragua, Venezuela Presidents Say They Are Willing to Grant Asylum to SnowdenThe presidents of Nicaragua and Venezuela offered Friday to grant asylum to NSA leaker Edward Snowden, one day after leftist South American leaders gathered to denounce the rerouting of Bolivian President Evo Morales’ plane over Europe amid reports that the American was aboard. Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua and Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela made their offers during separate speeches in their home countries Friday afternoon. Snowden has asked for asylum in numerous countries, including Nicaragua and Venezuela. “As head of state, the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela decided to offer humanitarian asylum to the young American Continued >>

The Guardian Reveals Documents Outlining NSA Warrantless Spying 'Secret Rules'Documents show that discretion as to who is actually targeted lies directly with the NSA's analysts

Top secret documents submitted to the court that oversees surveillance by US intelligence agencies show the judges have signed off on broad orders which allow the NSA to make use of information "inadvertently" collected from domestic US communications without a warrant.The Guardian is publishing in full two documents submitted to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (known as the Fisa court), signed by Attorney General Eric Holder and stamped 29 July 2009. They detail the procedures the NSA is required to follow to target "non-US persons" under its foreign intelligence powers and what the agency does to minimize data collected on US citizens and residents in the course of that surveillance.The documents show that even under authorities governing the collection of foreign intelligence from foreign targets, US communications can still be collected, retained and used.The procedures cover only part of the NSA's surveillance of domestic US communications. The bulk collection of domestic call records, as first revealed by the Guardian earlier this month, takes place under rolling court orders issued on the basis of a legal interpretation of a different authority, section 215 of the Patriot Act.The Fisa court's oversight role has been referenced many times by Barack Obama and senior intelligence officials as they have sought to reassure the public about surveillance, but the procedures approved by the court have never before been publicly disclosed.The top secret documents published today detail the circumstances in which data collected on US persons under the foreign intelligence authority must be destroyed, extensive steps analysts must take to try to check targets are outside the US, and reveals how US call records are used to help remove US citizens and residents from data collection.

However, alongside those provisions, the Fisa court-approved policies allow the NSA to: ● Keep data that could potentially contain details of US persons for up to five years; ● Retain and make use of "inadvertently acquired" domestic communications if they contain usable intelligence, information on criminal activity, threat of harm to people or property, are encrypted, or are believed to contain any information relevant to cybersecurity; ● Preserve "foreign intelligence information" contained within attorney-client communications; ● Access the content of communications gathered from "U.S. based machine[s]" or phone numbers in order to establish if targets are located in the US, for the purposes of ceasing further surveillance.The broad scope of the court orders, and the nature of the procedures set out in the documents, appear to clash with assurances from President Obama and senior intelligence officials that the NSA could not access Americans' call or email information without warrants.The documents also show that discretion as to who is actually targeted under the NSA's foreign surveillance powers lies directly with its own analysts, without recourse to courts or superiors – though a percentage of targeting decisions are reviewed by internal audit teams on a regular basis.Since the Guardian first revealed the extent of the NSA's collection of US communications, there have been repeated calls for the legal basis of the programs to be released. Continued >>

Have You Seen This Man? The Pentagon Is Hiding HimRepublicans Want to Talk to Col. George Bristol About BenghaziBY SHARYL ATTKISSON -- Marine Corps Col. George Bristol was in a key position in the U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) chain of command the night of the Sept. 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. As such, he's high on the list of people that some Republican members of Congress want to interview. But they don't know where he is and the Pentagon isn't telling.Pentagon spokesman Major Robert Firman told CBS News that the Department of Defense "cannot compel retired members to testify before Congress.""They say he's retired and they can't reach out to him," Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, told CBS News. "That's hogwash."Bristol, a martial arts master, was commander of Joint Special Operations Task Force-Trans Sahara based in Stuttgart, Germany until he retired last March. In an article in "Stars and Stripes", Bristol is quoted at his retirement ceremony as telling his troops that "an evil" has descended on Africa, referring to Islamic militant groups. "It is on us to stomp it out."Members of Congress in both the House and Senate, including Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., have asked the Pentagon for assistance in locating Bristol so that they can question him about events the night of the terrorist attacks in Benghazi. But those efforts have come up empty."The Department of Defense has been entirely forthcoming on all matters related to our response to the attacks in Benghazi from the outset," said Pentagon spokesman Firman. He added that "any congressional committee can call the witnesses it needs" through subpoena, if necessary.On June 26, the House Armed Services Committee questioned other military members in the AFRICOM chain of command in a closed hearing. The witnesses included Bristol's former superiors: commander of Special Operations Command Africa Rear Adm. Brian Losey and former AFRICOM commander Gen. Carter Ham.As to why the Defense Department made Ham available but not Bristol, when Ham is also retired from his post, the Pentagon said Ham was not yet officially retired.Chaffetz says the Defense Department has actually been more responsive on Benghazi than other federal agencies, with a few exceptions including helping locate Bristol."We will end up talking to [Bristol] at some point," said Chaffetz. "He had a very important role and we want to talk to him about it...All this raises concern when there's so much resistance to letting us speak with him."Another officer in the chain of command who was interviewed by the House Armed Services Committee in last month's closed session was Lt. Col. Michael Gibson.Gibson led a team that was on the ground in Tripoli during the attacks. A U.S. diplomat testified the team was stopped from flying to Benghazi to help the Americans who were under attack. That account differed from the Obama administration's original version of events.Administration officials contend that Gibson's team was stopped from going to Benghazi simply because it was needed more in Tripoli, and that even if it had flown to Benghazi, it wouldn't have made any difference. Four Americans including U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens died in the attacks.Later this month, the House Oversight Committee is expected to hold a public hearing examining the State Department Accountability Review Board (ARB) probe of Benghazi. Democrats and the Obama administration praised the ARB's investigation. But Republicans criticized some of the board's efforts, including its failure to interview then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Former AFRICOM head to testify on BenghaziFour State Department officials subpoenaed in Benghazi probe

CBS News Confirms Multiple Breaches ofSharyl Attkisson’s ComputerIntrepid Reporter's Computer Was Accessed By an Unauthorized, External, Unknown Party’Now what 'specific entity' would have the motive for such a dastardly deed?

CBS News reporter Sharyl Attkisson Sharyl Attkisson revealed in May that her computer had been compromised. When asked about the situation, CBS News responded with a statement that it was conducting an investigation.That investigation has reached the following conclusions, according to CBS News spokeswoman Sonya McNair:“A cyber security firm hired by CBS News has determined through forensic analysis that Sharyl Attkisson’s computer was accessed by an unauthorized, external, unknown party on multiple occasions late in 2012. Evidence suggests this party performed all access remotely using Attkisson’s accounts. While no malicious code was found, forensic analysis revealed an intruder had executed commands that appeared to involve search and exfiltration of data.This party also used sophisticated methods to remove all possible indications of unauthorized activity, and alter system times to cause further confusion.CBS News is taking steps to identify the responsible party and their method of access.”The Attkisson-computer story surfaced in May, when Attkisson appeared on a Philadelphia radio program amid the news about the Justice Department’s snooping on reporters. WPHT 1210 host Chris Stigall asked Attkisson whether she’d been the victim of any such tactics. She responded, “Well, um, I’m not ready to fully speak publicly about some things that have affected me because I’m trying to be methodical and careful about what I say, but there has been an issue in my house and there’s been an issue with my computers that’s gone on for quite a long time that we’re looking into.”The CBS News reporter was then asked whether her issue related to the experience of Fox News reporter James Rosen, who’d been the target of Justice Department snooping. She responded: “Well, I don’t know details of his — I only know what I’ve read but I think there could be some relationship between these types of things and what’s happened to me.”That wasn’t a loud-mouthed affirmation, but rather a suggestion that her computer troubles could be the work of an overreaching U.S. government.Attkisson later pulled back a touch, clarifying that she wasn’t ready to identify a “SPECIFIC ENTITY.”Eugene H. Spafford, a Purdue University professor and specialist in computer security, said that Attkisson’s initial statements about computer intrusions left open a wide field of possibilities, from viruses to botnet activity to acquaintances to criminal gangs to the government. The Erik Wemple Blog asked Spafford for his take after looking over the CBS News statement. “The details given are too sparse to really be able to say anything new,” he responded.

UPDATE: CBS’ Sharyl Attkisson Recalls Hacking Episodes to O’Reilly, Says ‘I Think I Know’ Who Did It'CBS News investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson sat down with Bill O’Reilly tonight to talk about her recent revelation that her work and home computers were hacked. She described to O’Reilly how she noticed her computers starting up randomly at night, and while she did not say anything directly, she did acknowledge that she has a suspicion of who did it.Attkisson told O’Reilly that while she was concerned about hackers getting access to her personal finances, that information was not compromised. She said the stories she was working on were Fast & Furious, a “green energy debacle” story, and Benghazi. O’Reilly couldn’t help but notice how all of these stories were ones that painted the Obama administration in a negative light.Attkisson said she got technical help before going to CBS with her concerns. O’Reilly noted the next thing to do is “sue somebody,” and asked Attkisson who’s under suspicion. Attkission explained she has attorneys advising her not to come forth with all that information. O’Reilly remarked, “I assume you have a suspicion.” Attkission admitted, “Well, I think I know.”Watch the video HERE

BILL O’REILLY HOST: Personal story segment tonight, CBS News announced on Friday that investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson's computer was hacked into late last year. This combined with the James Rosen situation here at Fox News and the AP snooping causing a lot of concern. With us now in a Factor cable exclusive is Ms. Attkisson. So when did you know that somebody was messing with your computer?SHARYL ATTKISSON, CBS: Well there were signs probably around 2011, but I don't think I recognized exactly what was going on until perhaps the fall of last year when so many things were happening in the Attkisson household, so many sort of strange electronic-related things that…O’REILLY: Give me an example because I don't know anything about computers. Give me an example.ATTKISSON: I know very little too, but the computers coming on by themselves at night, my personal Apple desktop as well as my CBS-issued…O’REILLY: Disappearing. You weren't even there just popped on.
ATTKISSON: Right. I mean, I was sleeping, so they would come on in the middle of the night, sometimes one right after the other. By the time last fall came around they would sometimes both be starting up kind of a cacophony of computer music at night in the middle of the night.O’REILLY: So you had a personal computer and you had a business computer and they both came on. Sounds like Poltergeist.ATTKISSON: Right, right.O’REILLY: So what were you working on that might have interested somebody to try to intrude on your computer? What were you working on?ATTKISSON: Well you know the first thing I thought some time ago were my personal accounts, my finances, my passwords and so on. But nobody has intruded upon my finances although they had access to that material. So nobody stole my identity or got into my bank accounts which they could have. So I assume the reason they were in the CBS computer was something related to what I was working on.O’REILLY: Which was what? What big stories were you working on?ATTKISSON: Well, at the time I was doing Fast and Furious of course, some green energy debacle sort of stimulus spending stories, and then later on the Benghazi story.O’REILLY: Alright, so they were all not complimentary to the administration. You weren't working on why is Barack Obama so brilliant and ObamaCare is the best thing in the world?ATTKISSON: I mean, that’s kind of what I do whichever administration is in office. That’s kind of what I do.O’REILLY: I'm not saying you’re partisan, but I’m saying the stuff you were going after if the information came forth might hurt the Obama administration. Is that accurate?ATTKISSON: True.O’REILLY: Okay. So then, CBS then, you tell CBS News that you think somebody is hacking you because your computers are coming on by themselves. They send in their techs?ATTKISSON: Not exactly. I mean, I had more information than just my suspicion by the time I went to CBS. I had some help that I can't go into detail about.O’REILLY: Alright, so you got some computer geeks to help you find out if, indeed, you were being hacked.ATTKISSON: I got some help. Then in January, this is about January of this past year, I informed CBS once I knew because this is CBS-issued equipment and they were in the CBS systems, and CBS hired an independent forensic firm that came and looked at the CBS computer.O’REILLY: And they found out that you indeed were being hacked and made the announcement on Friday. So where does it go from here? I guess CBS could sue somebody, but you got to have somebody who is under suspicion, right? Do you have somebody who is under suspicion?ATTKISSON: Well, we're being cautioned, you know, what to say and what not to say at this point.O’REILLY: By whom?ATTKISSON: I have attorneys at CBS who are helping us through this. I also have personal counsel.O’REILLY: And so all your counsel is saying don't say anything. Do you have the same counsel that the Attorney General has and that Mueller has? No, it’s a joke. Bad joke. Sorry. So all of your counsel is saying don't accuse anybody right now.ATTKISSON: Well, they’re just telling us what we can say more than anything right now which is, you know, which you basically heard that there has been an intrusion of the computer. This is not phishing. This is not malware. This is not an ordinary as someone asked me old boyfriend trying to look through my files.O’REILLY: Okay, this is big?ATTKISSON: Yeah.O’REILLY: And, but in order to go after somebody, you’ve got to have a suspicion, and I assume you have a suspicion. You don't have to tell me. I don't want to get your lawyers mad but I assume you have a suspicion.ATTKISSON: Well, I think I know, but I, I’m just not prepared to go into that. So, we're continuing our investigation. There are multi-facetted, you know, looks at what to do next.

INSIDER THREAT PROGRAM: How Obama Regime Keeps Federal Whistleblowers QuietObama's 'Crackdown' Views Leaks as Aiding Enemies of the RegimePresident Barack Obama’s unprecedented initiative, known as the Insider Threat Program, is sweeping in its reach. It has received scant public attention even though it extends beyond the U.S. national security bureaucracies to most federal departments and agencies nationwide, including the Peace Corps, the Social Security Administration and the Education and Agriculture departments. It emphasizes leaks of classified material, but catchall definitions of “insider threat” give agencies latitude to pursue and penalize a range of other conduct.Government documents reviewed by McClatchy illustrate how some agencies are using that latitude to pursue unauthorized disclosures of any information, not just classified material. They also show how millions of federal employees and contractors must watch for “high-risk persons or behaviors” among co-workers and could face penalties, including criminal charges, for failing to report them. Leaks to the media are equated with espionage.“Hammer this fact home . . . leaking is tantamount to aiding the enemies of the United States,” says a June 1, 2012, Defense Department strategy for the program that was obtained by McClatchy.Bombshell: Read the entire McClatchy report

Good Grief! … Obama State Dept Accused of Covering Up Sexual Assaults, Drug Use and Prostitute Solicitation Within Its Own RanksWhistleblower Kerry Howard Consul General Donald MooreWhistleblower Kerry Howard Accuses Consul General Donald Moore of Trysts with Subordinates and HookersIn the latest black eye for the scandal-ridden State Department, a whistleblower claims she was run out of the foreign service after complaining about a consul general’s alleged office trysts with subordinates and hookers. Kerry Howard says she was bullied, harassed and forced to resign after she exposed US Consul General Donald Moore’s alleged security-threatening shenanigans in the Naples, Italy, office.As the post’s community-liaison officer, Howard was charged with keeping workplace peace and advising higher-ups on the state of morale, but when she revealed allegations about her boss, State Department officials swept it under the rug, according to an Equal Employment Opportunity complaint she filed with the department’s Office of Civil Rights.“It’s cover-up after cover-up. It’s absolutely hideous,” she told The Post. “When our diplomats disrespect the Italians by hiring and firing them because they have seen too much — or use them for ‘sex-ercise’ — we have to question why we have diplomats abroad at taxpayer expense.”Howard is just the latest whistleblower to allege that Hillary Rodham Clinton’s State Department allowed sexual misbehavior to continue unchecked. Last week, The Post reported that Aurelia Fedenisn, an investigator at the department’s inspector-general office, wrote a memo outlining eight cases of supposed sexual misconduct, but that they were removed from an IG report. The allegations included US Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman soliciting prostitutes, including minors, and at least seven agents in Clinton’s security detail hiring hookers while traveling with her to Russia and Colombia.The soap opera in Italy unfolded in the fall of 2010, when Moore became the Naples consul general after serving in the same capacity at the US Embassy in Port au Prince, Haiti. As a senior foreign-service officer, Moore could make as much as $179,700 a year, State Department data says. Within days, he allegedly bedded a consulate employee, a single mom who fell in love with him.Howard detailed the alleged affair in certified letters to members of Congress, including California Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Barbara Boxer, in December, said Howard’s lawyer, Lawrence Kelly. “More and more intimate details of their relationship became common knowledge,” Howard wrote, adding that the staffer became pregnant and wanted to keep the baby, but that Moore insisted she get an abortion.“She informed anyone within earshot that she had had the abortion and had her tubes tied at his instruction,” Howard wrote. “Morale continued to sink as this soap opera played out in our workplace on a daily basis.” Continued

Whistleblower Aurelia Fedenisn Says State Department Trying to Bully Her Into SilenceWhistleblower Aurelia Fedenisn Ambassador Howard Gutman, accused of soliciting "sexual favors"The State Department investigator who accused colleagues last week of using drugs, soliciting prostitutes, and having sex with minors says that Foggy Bottom is now engaged in an "intimidation" campaign to stop her.Last week's leaks by Aurelia Fedenisn, a former State Department inspector general investigator, shined a light on alleged wrongdoing by U.S. officials around the globe. But her attorney Cary Schulman tells The Cable that Fedenisn has paid a steep price: "They had law enforcement officers camp out in front of her house, harass her children and attempt to incriminate herself."Fedenisn's life changed dramatically last Monday after she handed over documents and statements to CBS News alleging that senior State Department officials "influenced, manipulated, or simply called off" several investigations into misconduct. The suppression of investigations was noted in an early draft of an Inspector General report, but softened in the final version.Erich Hart, general counsel to the Inspector General, did not reply to a request for comment. State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said last week that "we hold all employees to the highest standards. We take allegations of misconduct seriously and we investigate thoroughly." She also announced that the department would request additional review by outside law enforcement officers on OIG inspection processes.After the CBS News made inquiries to the State Department about the charges, Schulman says investigators from the State Department's Inspector General promptly arrived at Fedenisn's door. "They talked to both kids and never identified themselves," he said. "First the older brother and then younger daughter, a minor, asking for their mom's place of work and cell phone number ... They camped out for four to five hours."Schulman says the purpose of the visit was to get Fedenisn to sign a document admitting that she stole State Department materials, such as the memos leaked to CBS. Schulman says it was crucial that she didn't sign the document because her separation agreement with the State Department includes a provision allowing disclosures of misconduct. Furthermore, none of the materials were classified.Schulman charged that sending law enforcement officers to pressure her into signing an agreement was heavy handed. "Why not simply mail it, courier it, send it Federal Express or deliver it by any other normal means by which one delivers a demand letter? Why send two federal law enforcement agents?" he asked. He also said that officials from the Inpsector General's Office told him they'd be having a "no kidding get together with the DOJ," implying to him that they would push criminal charges if his client didn't cooperate.In discussing the chain of events with Kel McClanahan, a D.C. attorney who has represented several agency whistleblowers, McClanahan said the case smacked of intimidation."This type of intimidation technique is all too common when an agency wants something from you that it is not entirely confident it can get without your cooperation, and more often than not people who don't know any better fall for it," he told The Cable. "Regardless of what you may think of Fedenisn's motives, she worked for these guys for years and she knows their playbook ... I would have been shocked if she did anything except promptly hire a lawyer and call their bluff."Caught On Tape! Obama Scandal Machine Suspected as Cameras Catch Break In at Whistleblower Fedenisn's Law FirmThe offices of a Dallas law firm representing a high-profile State Department whistleblower were broken into last weekend. Burglars stole three computers and broke into the firm's file cabinets. But silver bars, video equipment and other valuables were left untouched, according to local Fox affiliate KDFW, which aired security camera footage of the suspected burglars entering and leaving the offices around the time of the incident. The firm Schulman & Mathias represents Aurelia Fedenisn, a former investigator at the State Department's Office of the Inspector General. In recent weeks, she raised a slew of explosive allegations against the department and Continued >>

Meet the Seven Men 'Former-Whisleblower-Defender Obama' Considers Enemies of His Regime
Late Friday, the Washington Post revealed that federal prosecutors have charged Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor behind a series of revelations about the agency's intelligence-gathering operations, with espionage.As a state senator, Barack Obama made a name for himself as a defender of whistleblowers. And during the 2008 campaign he pledged that his administration would protect those who speak out against government abuse, arguing that their "acts of courage and patriotism, which can sometimes save lives and often save taxpayer dollars, should be encouraged rather than stifled."
But as president, Obama has aggressively prosecuted government officials who have disclosed classified information to the media, and has used the 1917 Espionage Act to pursue leakers more frequently than all previous presidents combined. Snowden, in fact, will be the seventh person indicted under the act during the Obama administration. Here's a quick rundown of the men the Obama White House considers enemies of the state.

Thomas DrakeA former senior official at the NSA, Drake was indicted in 2010 by prosecutors for obstruction of justice and allegedly retaining classified documents for the purpose of providing them to Siobhan Gorman, a reporter at the Baltimore Sun who has since moved to the Wall Street Journal. According to the New Yorker, Drake thought the NSA had erred in choosing a group of outside contractors to develop a data-mining program that had been developed more cheaply and more effectively by William Binney, an analyst at the agency. Drake also believed that the agency had stripped away the privacy protections in the programs. He eventually reached an agreement with prosecutors under which he pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.Shamai LeibowitzAn FBI linguist, Leibowitz provided transcripts of wiretapped conversations between Israeli officials at their embassy in Washington to a blogger, Richard Silverstein. During his trial, prosecutors considered this information so sensitive that even the judge did not know what material Leibowitz had disclosed. According to Silverstein, Leibowitz was concerned about the influence Israel exercised on Capitol Hill and worried that Israel might strike Iranian nuclear facilities. After observing contacts between the embassy and members of Congress, Leibowitz thought Israeli efforts to influence American public opinion had crossed the line and leaked the transcripts. He was sentenced to 20 months in jail in 2010.Stephen Jin-Woo KimA State Department analyst, Kim was indicted in 2010 for providing a classified intelligence report about North Korea's response to an upcoming round of sanctions to James Rosen, a reporter for Fox News. Kim's case made headlines again earlier this year when it was disclosed that Rosen had been named a co-conspirator in the case in order to gain access to his email account. Kim argues that his communication with Rosen was a normal part of interactions between officials and journalists in Washington. He has pleaded not guilty and his trial is ongoing.Bradley ManningAccused of providing thousands of diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks, Manning, an Army private, has endured harsh treatment at the hands of his military jailers, who have reportedly subjected him to long stints in solitary confinement and forced him to remain naked in his cell. Manning's alleged mistreatment have made him a cause célèbre among privacy rights activists, and his trial has become a focal point in the conflict over the Obama administration's aggressive pursuit of leakers and whistleblowers. In 2011, military prosecutors added an additional set of charges in his case, and he is being prosecuted under both the Uniform Code of Military Justice and the Espionage Act. His trial is ongoing.Jeffrey SterlingIn his 2006 book State of War: The Secret History of the C.I.A. and the Bush Administration, New York Times reporter James Risen detailed an episode in which the CIA sent a former Russian scientist to Iran with faulty plans in an effort to sabotage the Iranian nuclear program. But according to Risen's account, that mission was botched and may have helped Iran advance its nuclear research. Federal prosecutors allege that Sterling, a former CIA agent, was the source for that account. Sterling has pleaded not guilty, and the Justice Department is currently appealing a series of evidentiary rulings.John KiriakouA 14-year veteran of the CIA and a counterterror specialist, Kiriakou blew the whistle on the CIA's use of waterboarding and, according to prosecutors, disclosed the identities of several CIA agents. An outspoken opponent of the agency's interrogation tactics, he went on television in 2007 and described in detail the methods used to waterboard Abu Zubaydah, a member of al Qaeda currently detained at Guantánamo Bay. Kiriakou agreed to a plea deal with prosecutors, under the terms of which he is currently serving a 30-month prison sentence.Ed SnowdenA former NSA contractor and the source for recent revelations about the agency's top-secret surveillance programs, Snowden is charged with espionage and theft of government property. He has provided the Washington Post and the Guardian with a wide variety of documents detailing the NSA's efforts to monitor Internet and telephone communications. Snowden is believed to be in Hong Kong, and U.S. officials have asked authorities there to extradite him.

Holly Paz, IRS Supervisor in Washington, Claims She Scrutinized Tea Party GroupsHolly Paz, cooperating witnessAn Internal Revenue Service supervisor in Washington says she was personally involved in scrutinizing some of the earliest applications from tea party groups seeking tax-exempt status, including some requests that languished for more than a year without action.Holly Paz, who until recently was a top deputy in the division that handles applications for tax-exempt status, told congressional investigators she reviewed 20 to 30 applications. Her assertion contradicts initial claims by the agency that a small group of agents working in an office in Cincinnati were solely responsible for mishandling the applications.Paz, however, provided no evidence that senior IRS officials ordered agents to target conservative groups or that anyone in the Obama administration outside the IRS was involved.Instead, Paz described an agency in which IRS supervisors in Washington worked closely with agents in the field but didn't fully understand what those agents were doing. Paz said agents in Cincinnati openly talked about handling "tea party" cases, but she thought the term was merely shorthand for all applications from groups that were politically active -- conservative and liberal.Paz said dozens of tea party applications sat untouched for more than a year while field agents waited for guidance from Washington on how to handle them. At the time, she said, Washington officials thought the agents in Cincinnati were processing the cases.Paz was among the first IRS employees to be interviewed as part of a joint investigation by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee.Congressional investigators have interviewed at least six IRS employees as part of their inquiry. The Associated Press has reviewed transcripts from three interviews -- with Paz and with two agents, Gary Muthert and Elizabeth Hofacre, from the Cincinnati office. The IRS declined comment for this story. Continued >>

OBAMA REGIME CHARGES EDWARD SNOWDEN WITH ESPIONAGEFederal prosecutors have filed a sealed criminal complaint against Edward Snowden, the former National Security Agency contractor who leaked a trove of documents about top-secret surveillance programs, and the United States has asked Hong Kong to detain him on a provisional arrest warrant, according to U.S. officials. Snowden was charged with espionage, theft and conversion of government property, the officials said. The complaint was filed in the Eastern District of Virginia, a jurisdiction where Snowden’s former employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, is headquartered, and a district with a long track record in prosecuting cases with national security implications. A Justice Department >>>Russ Tice, NSA Whistleblower from Bush-Era Makes Explosive Allegation — Wiretapped Numbers Associated with a 40-Something-Year-Old Wannabe Senator Named Barack Hussein ObamaRuss Tice, a former intelligence analyst and Bush-era NSA whistleblower, claimed Wednesday that the intelligence community has ordered surveillance on a wide range of groups and individuals, including high-ranking military officials, lawmakers and diplomats.He also made another stunning allegation. He says the NSA had ordered wiretaps on phones connected to then-Senate candidate Barack Obama back in 2004.“They went after–and I know this because I had my hands literally on the paperwork for these sort of things–they went after high-ranking military officers; they went after members of Congress, both Senate and the House, especially on the intelligence committees and on the armed services committees and some of the–and judicial,” Tice told Peter B. Collins on Boiling Frog Post News.He went on: “But they went after other ones, too. They went after lawyers and law firms. All kinds of–heaps of lawyers and law firms. They went after judges. One of the judges is now sitting on the Supreme Court that I had his wiretap information in my hand. Two are former FISA court judges. They went after State Department officials. They went after people in the executive service that were part of the White House–their own people.”Then Tice dropped the bombshell about Obama. “Here’s the big one,” he said. “[T]his was in summer of 2004, one of the papers that I held in my hand was to wiretap a bunch of numbers associated with a 40-something-year-old wannabe senator for Illinois. You wouldn’t happen to know where that guy lives right now would you? It’s a big white house in Washington, D.C. That’s who they went after, and that’s the president of the United States now.”FBI whistleblower Sibel Edmonds and Tice agreed that such wide-ranging surveillance of officials could provide the intelligence agencies with unthinkable power to blackmail their opponents. “I was worried that the intelligence community now has sway over what is going on,” Tice said. >>>FBI's Mueller: 'We're Watching You with Our Drone Fleet'The FBI uses drones for domestic surveillance purposes, the head of the agency told Congress early Wednesday.Robert Mueller, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, confirmed to lawmakers that the FBI owns several unmanned aerial vehicles, but has not adopted any strict policies or guidelines yet to govern the use of the controversial aircraft.“Does the FBI use drones for surveillance on US soil?” Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) asked Mr. Mueller during an oversight hearing on Capitol Hill Wednesday before the Senate Judiciary Committee.“Yes,” Mueller responded bluntly, adding that the FBI’s operation of drones is “very seldom.”Asked by Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California) to elaborate, Mueller added, “It’s very seldom used and generally used in a particular incident where you need the capability.” Earlier in the morning, however, Mueller said that the agency was only now working to establish set rule for the drone program.Mueller began answering questions just after 10 a.m. EDT and has also touched briefly on the recently exposed NSA surveillance program that has marred the reputation of the United States intelligence community as of late. Mueller said 22 agents have access to a vast surveillance database, including 20 analysts and two overseers.When Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota) asked Mueller later in the morning if he’d consider being more open about the FBI’s surveillance methods, the director decried being much more transparent that the bureau already is. Mueller said the FBI has and will continue to weigh the possibility of publishing more information about its spy habits, but warned that doing such would be to the advantage of America’s enemies.“There is a price to be paid for that transparency,” Mueller said. “I certainly think it would be educating our adversaries as to what our capabilities are.”The Truth Behind the SpyingWhy is anybody surprised at what the government is doing to American citizens in the name of fighting terrorism? The Department of Homeland Security director, Janet Napolitano has made statements that she views certain American citizen groups as dangerous as radical Islamists.The attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon in 2001 were preventable had there been communication between the intelligence agencies. The Patriot Act was supposed to break down that wall and make it easier for agencies to consolidate information about potential terrorist activity. It also expanded the Treasury's authority to regulate financial transactions, particularly those involving foreign individuals and entities.In 2011, President Obama signed a four-year extension of three key provisions in the Act that allowed roving wiretaps, searches of business records, and conducting surveillance of "lone wolves"--individuals suspected of terrorist-related activities not linked to groups.Why is anybody surprised at what the government is doing to American citizens in the name of fighting terrorism? The Department of Homeland Security director, Janet Napolitano has made statements that she views certain American citizen groups as dangerous as radical Islamists. A report by the Homeland Security Office of Intelligence and Analysis defines "rightwing extremism in the United States" as including not just racist or hate groups, but also groups that reject federal authority in favor of state or local authority such as those opposed to abortion and immigration. Hmmm. In other words those opposed to this administration's policies, right?Hollywood has been making films and television shows about how the government spies on its citizens for some time. Films like the "Bourne Identity" series and "Enemy of the State" clearly demonstrate how pervasive governmental surveillance is and one of the lines from 'Enemy of the State' a film made before 9/11 is very chilling: Brill: "The government's been in bed with the entire telecommunications industry since the forties. They've infected everything. They get into your bank statements, computer files, email; listen to your phone calls... Every wire, every airwave. The more technology used, the easier it is for them to keep tabs on you. It's a brave new world out there. At least it'd better be." No, it's not.In other words, you can't hide, they will find you especially if you are an innocent law abiding American who happens to own registered guns. On the other hand, if Russia informs the FBI of a possible jihadist in our area as they did before the Boston massacre, more than likely they will lose all contact with the suspect. For that matter, how come our intelligence (and I use that description lightly) agencies can't seem to find the 12 million or more illegals hiding in the shadows? They must not be attending tea party or right to life rallies or they'd be easier to track. Continued >>Welcome to Utah, the NSA's Desert Home for Eeavesdropping on AmericansThe NSA's new $1.7bn facility in the heart of Mormon country has the potential to snoop on US citizens for decades to come. The NSA centre in Bluffdale will soon host supercomputers to store huge quantities of data from emails, phone calls and web searches.Drive south down Camp Williams Road, a highway outside Salt Lake City, and your eye is drawn to the left. A gun-mounted helicopter and other military hardware marks the entrance of the Utah army national guard base. The ice-capped Rockies soar in the distance.To the right there is little to see: featureless scrubland, a metal fence, some warehouses. A small exit – not marked on ordinary maps – takes you up a curving road. A yellow sign says this is military property closed to unauthorised personnel.Further up the hill, invisible from the highway, you encounter concrete walls, a security boom and checkpoint with guards, sniffer dogs and cameras. Two plaques with official seals announce the presence of the office of the director of national intelligence and the National Security Agency.A spokesperson at NSA headquarters in Maryland did not welcome a Guardian request to visit its western outpost. "That is a secure facility. If you trespass on federal property security guards will be obliged to do their jobs." An interview was out of the question.Welcome to the Utah Data Center, a new home for the NSA's exponentially expanding information trove. The $1.7bn facility, two years in the making, will soon host supercomputers to store gargantuan quantities of data from emails, phone calls, Google searches and other sources. Sited on an unused swath of the national guard base, by September it will employ around 200 technicians, span 1m sq ft and use 65 megawatts of power.This week Utah roasted in near-record temperatures ideal for fires and thunderstorms, putting the state under a hazardous weather outlook advisory. The NSA could have done with a similar warning for the scorching criticism of its surveillance activities, a sudden reversal of scrutiny for the agency and its Utah complex.Deep in Mormon country between the Wasatch and Oquirrh mountains, nestled on the outskirts of Bluffdale (population 7,598), it was designed to be largely anonymous. Instead, after Guardian disclosures of data-mining programs involving millions of Americans, the Utah Data Center provokes an urgent question: what exactly will it do?James Bamford, author of The Shadow Factory: The Ultra-Secret NSA from 9/11 to the Eavesdropping on America, said the public had yet to grasp the significance of Utah's data-mining. "It's basically a hard-drive. It's also a cloud, a warehouse. It'll be storing not just text and audio but pictures and video. There's a lackadaisical attitude to this. People pay no attention until it's too late." Bamford wrote a cover story about the centre for Wired last year. >>>Massive San Antonio NSA Data Center Raises EyebrowsEven as reports break about the size and scope of the National Security Agency’s vast data storage center in Utah, new details are emerging about a second massive NSA center in San Antonio, Texas. According to the Houston Chronicle, “Satellite and aerial imagery show that massive air conditioning units and backup generators have been added to the facility, which is now ringed by barbed-wire fencing.City permits and property tax records show that the complex has been dramatically expanded.” According to sources, the plant will supposedly translate intercepted communications from the NSA; the communications are then forwarded to Maryland for processing.The data center itself is about 94,000 square feet. It became operational in 2012. But the San Antonio Express-News could find no funding in the Defense Department budgets from 2004 through 2013 for the work at the Sony plant where the NSA center was located. The property on which the data center is located has grown by approximately 135,000 square feet, and is now worth some $72 million. A local bond sale in 2006 estimated that the NSA would be dropping $300 million into the area.Originally, the NSA was much more transparent about the project, actually holding a job fair to promote their expansion in San Antonio. But from 2007 on, the news about the site has been nonexistent. In 2010, San Antonio residents reported that their garage doors had been opening randomly, and the NSA admitted that its antenna were interfering with garage door openers.NSA Admits Listening to U.S. Phone Calls Without WarrantsNational Security Agency discloses in secret Capitol Hill briefing that thousands of analysts can listen to domestic phone calls. That authorization appears to extend to e-mail and text messages too.The National Security Agency has acknowledged in a new classified briefing that it does not need court authorization to listen to domestic phone calls.Rep. Jerrold Nadler, a New York Democrat, disclosed this week that during a secret briefing to members of Congress, he was told that the contents of a phone call could be accessed "simply based on an analyst deciding that."If the NSA wants "to listen to the phone," an analyst's decision is sufficient, without any other legal authorization required, Nadler said he learned. "I was rather startled," said Nadler, an attorney and congressman who serves on the House Judiciary committee.Not only does this disclosure shed more light on how the NSA's formidable eavesdropping apparatus works domestically, it also suggests the Justice Department has secretly interpreted federal surveillance law to permit thousands of low-ranking analysts to eavesdrop on phone calls. Because the same legal standards that apply to phone calls also apply to e-mail messages, text messages, and instant messages, Nadler's disclosure indicates the NSA analysts could also access the contents of Internet communications without going before a court and seeking approval.The disclosure appears to confirm some of the allegations made by Edward Snowden, a former NSA infrastructure analyst who leaked classified documents to the Guardian. Snowden said in a video interview that, while not all NSA analysts had this ability, he could from Hawaii "wiretap anyone from you or your accountant to a federal judge to even the president."There are serious "constitutional problems" with this approach, said Kurt Opsahl, a senior staff attorney at the Electronic Frontier Foundation who has litigated warrantless wiretapping cases. "It epitomizes the problem of secret laws."The NSA yesterday declined to comment to CNET. A representative said Nadler was not immediately available. (This is unrelated to last week's disclosure that the NSA is currently collecting records of the metadata of all domestic Verizon calls, but not the actual contents of the conversations.)Patriot Act Author Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner Says Obama Administration’s NSA Assurances ‘a Bunch of Bunk’Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who introduced the PATRIOT Act on the House floor in 2001, has declared that lawmakers’ and the executive branch’s excuses about recent revelations of NSA activity are “a bunch of bunk.”In an interview on Laura Ingraham’s radio show Wednesday morning, the Republican congressman from Wisconsin reiterated his concerns that the administration and the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court have gone far beyond what the PATRIOT Act intended. Specifically, he said that Section 215 of the act “was originally drafted to prevent data mining” on the scale that’s occurred.Sensenbrenner, the current chairman on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations, suggested that the secret nature of the FISA court has prevented appropriate congressional oversight over the NSA’s activities.When asked whether he agreed with those in Washington calling leaker Edward Snowden a traitor, Sensenbrenner responded, “No, I don’t agree,” and said that he would not have known the extent of abuse by the FISA court and the NSA without Snowden’s disclosures.The congressman has earlier said he believes the PATRIOT Act needs to be amended to protect Americans’ privacy.'Big Sis' Denies the Existence of 'Big Brother' Orwellian StateHomeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano weighed in on the NSA intelligence leaks on Friday, telling NY1 that fears over government surveillance were overblown.“I think people have gotten the idea that there’s an Orwellian state out there that somehow we’re operating in. That’s far from the case,” she told Errol Louis during an appearance on Road to City Hall.Despite civil liberties advocates’ fears that monitoring efforts have gone too far, “there are lots of protections built into the system,” Ms. Napolitano said, pointing to a privacy office embedded in her own department that is “constantly reviewing our policies and procedures.” She further stressed the court review system.“No one should believe that we are simply going willy-nilly and using any kind of data that we can gather,” she said.Still, she acknowledged the federal government hasn’t done the best job of keeping the public informed about how it is treating the enormous amounts of personal information that could potentially be used in intelligence gathering.“I think we need to do a better job of explaining to the American people exactly what is kept, what are the real restrictions on how—I’m just talking now for DHS, Department of Homeland Security–how we use it, how long we can keep it, how we share it, all those thing,” she explained.Ms. Napolitano added that striking the right balance between security and civil liberties is always a challenge.“We’re constantly struggling,” she said. “It’s not easy–because technology has increased so much–these balances between security and privacy and other values.” >>>Daniel Ellsberg on PRISM: We're a 'Turnkey Away from Tyranny'Daniel Ellsberg and a panel of legal and political experts warned an overflowing crowd at St. John's Church in Berkeley on Tuesday night that American civil liberties are in jeopardy. The consensus of the (well-timed) panel — which, in addition to Ellsberg, included legal activist Nadia Kayyali, journalist Norman Solomon, and Icelandic Parliament member Birgitta Jónsdóttir— was that the government's recent collection of American citizens' phone records is unconstitutional. And we should all be concerned. Ellsberg, who rose to fame in 1971 when he turned over the infamous Pentagon Papers to The New York Times, pulled no punches. He said >>>66% Believe Obama Regime Has 'Right' to Analyze and Collect Internet Data A new CNN poll finds that 66 percent of American adults believe that it's "right" for the Obama administration to analyze and collect Internet data. Only 33 percent believe the action is "wrong," and 1 percent have "No opinion.""For the past few years the Obama administration has reportedly been gathering and analyzing information from major internet companies about audio and video chats, photographs, e-mails and documents involving people in other countries in an attempt to locate suspected terrorists. The government reportedly does not target internet usage by U.S. citizens and if such data is collected, it is kept under strict controls," reads the poll question. "Do you think the Obama administration was right or wrong in gathering and analyzing that internet data?"On phone call information, the public is a little less enthusiastic, but still supportive. Fifty-one percent believe the Obama administration is "right," 48 percent believe the administration is "wrong," and 1 percent have "No opinion." >>>Poll: More Americans see leaker Snowden as 'patriot' than 'traitor'Roughly one in three Americans say the former security contractor who leaked details of top-secret U.S. surveillance activity is a patriot and should not be prosecuted, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday. Some 23 percent of those surveyed said former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden is a traitor while 31 percent said he is a patriot. Another 46 percent said they did not know. Snowden, 29, revealed last week that the NSA is monitoring a wide swath of telephone and Internet activity as part of its counterterrorism efforts. "I'm neither traitor nor hero. I'm an American," Snowden >>>Hillary Clinton Denies Knowledge of State Department Scandals, Cover-UpsFormer Secretary of State Hillary Clinton issued a statement through a spokesman Tuesday that claimed total ignorance of rampant sex crimes and cover-ups occurring on her watch that were alleged in an Inspector General’s memo reported by CBS News and the New York Post. The IG memo, dated October 23, 2012, contains shocking allegations of overseas criminal conduct by State Department officials including sexual assault , ‘endemic’ procurement of prostitutes (including children)...SNIP CNN reported Clinton spokesman Nicholas Merrill issued a written statement saying, "We learned of it from the media and don't know anything beyond what's been reported." >>>Obama's Snooping Excludes Mosques, Missed Boston BombersHomeland Insecurity: The White House assures that tracking our every phone call and keystroke is to stop terrorists, and yet it won't snoop in mosques, where the terrorists are. That's right, the government's sweeping surveillance of our most private communications excludes the jihad factories where homegrown terrorists are radicalized. Since October 2011, mosques have been off-limits to FBI agents. No more surveillance or undercover string operations without high-level approval from a special oversight body at the Justice Department dubbed the Sensitive Operations Review Committee. Who makes up this body, and how do they decide requests? Nobody knows; the names of the chairman, members and staff are kept secret. We do know the panel was set up under pressure from Islamist groups who complained about FBI stings at mosques. Just months before the panel's formation, the Council on American-Islamic Relations teamed up with the ACLU to sue the FBI for allegedly violating the civil rights of Muslims in Los Angeles by hiring an undercover agent to infiltrate and monitor mosques there. Before mosques were excluded from the otherwise wide domestic spy net the administration has cast, the FBI launched dozens of successful sting operations against homegrown jihadists — inside mosques — and disrupted dozens of plots against the homeland. >>>Why The Surveillance State Must Be ErasedIn America today there is a great rushing storm, a swirling hurricane of clashing opinions and ideologies that defy coherent organization and classification. This social tempest has been triggered by certain revelations among the general public on issues which we in the Liberty Movement have long been aware.The fact that our government is bought and paid for by international corporate interests, the fact that our government has positioned itself to spy on ALL Americans without warrant and without probable cause, the fact that our government is instituting policy initiatives that target common citizens as enemy combatants, the fact that every one of our Constitutional rights is being deliberately torn away; these things are not news to us, but to many once ignorant people, they are a shock to the system.Open corruption on the part of a criminal establishment has a funny way of politicizing everyone, even those people who go out of their way to avoid the bigger picture. In the end, no man or woman gets a pass. Whether you like it or not, one day soon, you will have to choose a side; freedom or tyranny. There is no middle ground. >>>Google details how it hands over data to federal officialsGoogle on Wednesday pushed harder to downplay its role in a secret national surveillance program, detailing for the first time how it typically hands over data to federal officials. Surprisingly, the global innovator uses decidedly simple and low-tech methods, including the delivery of information by hand or by transferring files from one computer to another. >>>Breaking: Obama IRS Agents Seen Training With AR15sThis is comforting… The far left government agency that targets conservatives is now training with AR15s. WYFF4 reported: Republican Jeff Duncan said he made the discovery at a Maryland Federal Law Enforcement Training Center on May 23. The congressman was touring the facility with Homeland Security officials as part of his investigation into the amount of ammunition purchases the agency conducts. Duncan told News 4’s Sean Muserallo he saw about eight or nine shooters identified to him as IRS agents practicing at an indoor 100-yard range. “While we were sitting there,” said Duncan, “the gentleman told them to
sling their weapons and load a 30-round magazine into the AR-15s they were training with.” Duncan said he was concerned about what he saw. “Why do IRS law enforcement agents need standoff capability that you would have with a long rifle or with a weapon similar to an AR-15? They’re generally investigating tax evasion, fraud and money laundering. We think of the IRS as an audit agency more than doing the type of law enforcement where they have to use an AR-15.” Duncan said the IRS has the resources of the federal government, including the FBI, if they come into a situation where they feel like they need a SWAT team. >>>FBI Sharply Increased Record Requests Under Patriot Act — 1,000% Since 2009The FBI has dramatically increased its use of a controversial provision of the Patriot Act to secretly obtain a vast store of business records of U.S. citizens under President Barack Obama, according to recent Justice Department reports to Congress. The bureau filed 212 requests for such data to a national security court last year – a 1,000-percent increase from the number of such requests four years earlier, the reports show. The FBI’s increased use of the Patriot Act’s “business records” provision — and the wide ranging scope of its requests >>>NSA Surveillance: Anger Mounts in Congress at 'Spying on Americans'Anger was mounting in Congress on Tuesday night as politicians, briefed for the first time after revelations about the government's surveillance dragnet, vowed to rein in a system that one said amounted to "spying on Americans". Intelligence chiefs and FBI officials had hoped that the closed-door briefing with a full meeting of the House of Representatives would help reassure members about the widespread collection of US phone records revealed by the Guardian. But senior figures from both parties emerged from the meeting alarmed at the extent of a surveillance program that many claimed never to have heard of until >>>'Quit Google, Facebook' Suggests Tech Expert as Surveillance Scandal DeepensA best-selling author and technology expert has said that web users should boycott internet giants like Google and Facebook if it is confirmed they were involved in a US surveillance programme referred to as Prism. In an interview with Wired.co.uk, Professor Tim Wu of Columbia Law School suggested that consumers had a responsibility to leave social networks found out to be collaborating secretly with intelligence services such as the US National Security Agency: "Quit Facebook and use another search engine. It's simple." He added, "It's nice to keep in touch with your friends. But I think if you find out >>>Nine Companies Tied to PRISM, Obama Will Be Smacked With Class-Action LawsuitFormer Justice Department prosecutor Larry Klayman amended an existing lawsuit against Verizon and a slew of Obama administration officials Monday to make it the first class-action lawsuit in response to the publication of a secret court order instructing Verizon to hand over the phone records of millions of American customers on an "ongoing, daily basis." Klayman told U.S. News he will file a second class-action lawsuit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia targeting government officials and each of the nine companies listed in a leaked National Security Agency slideshow as participants in the government's PRISM >>>27 Edward Snowden Quotes About U.S. Government Spying That Should Send A Chill Up Your SpineWould you be willing to give up what Edward Snowden has given up? He has given up his high paying job, his home, his girlfriend, his family, his future and his freedom just to expose the monolithic spy machinery that the U.S. government has been secretly building to the world. He says that he does not want to live in a world where there isn't any privacy. He says that he does not want to live in a world where everything that he says and does is recorded. Thanks to Snowden, we now know that the U.S. government has been >>>Former NSA Chief: The Agency Has ‘Very Good Idea’ Which Secrets Snowden SwipedWith the promise of more news stories to come based on National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden’s unprecedented leak, NSA brass are probably fully aware of what’s coming next, according to a former top official. Retired Gen. Michael Hayden, who was the director of the NSA from 1995 until 2005, told TPM Tuesday that agency officials likely know exactly which classified files were accessed and potentially leaked by Snowden. Hayden also said it’s possible the number of documents leaked by Snowden number in the thousands and he’s “surprised” at the sensitive nature of the material that’s been leaked so far >>>Putin on NSA leak: Government Surveillance Shouldn’t Break LawData surveillance is an acceptable measure if done within the law, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin told RT while visiting the channel in the capital. Speaking to RT the Russian president stressed that Snowden revealed "nothing we didn’t know before", adding that surveillance "is becoming a global phenomenon in the context of combatting international terrorism", and that "such methods are generally practicable". But Putin pointed out that "the question is how well those security agencies are controlled by the public." "I can tell you that, at least in Russia, you cannot just go and tap into someone’s phone conversation without >>>

Pig Prosecutor Angela Corey Calls Zimmerman a 'Murderer' After Not Guilty Verdict — Another Defamation Lawsuit??HLN's Vinnie Politan asked: How would Florida State Attorney Angela Coreydescribe George Zimmerman in one word?Angela Corey answered -- "MURDERER."That's what an emotional Corey told HLN's Vinnie Politan when she sat down with fellow prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda and Politan in Jacksonville Monday to discuss the obstacles they faced prosecuting the former neighborhood watch captain."We were left with inconsistent witnesses in terms of what actually happened and (Zimmerman's) story, and what we're trying to prove is that his story was false," said de la Rionda.The lack of reliable eyewitness reports and lack of physical evidence made it impossible for the prosecutors to tell the jurors exactly what happened during the fight between Zimmerman and Martin."Our belief as to what happened: He chased down Trayvon Martin, he wanted to make sure Travyon Martin did not get away," said de la Rionda. "Now at what point he pulled out the gun? We could speculate as to what happened. My theory is that he pulled it out early. He was going to make sure he didn't get away. He wanted to be a cop." Continued >>The Pig Prosecutor From Hell: Angela Corey’s Checkered Past of Retaliation and OverchargingAngela Corey, by all accounts, is no Atticus Finch. She is "one hell of a trial lawyer," says a Florida defense attorney who has known her for three decades — but the woman who has risen to national prominence as the "tough as nails” state attorney who prosecuted George Zimmerman is known for scorching the earth. And some of her prosecutorial conduct has been, well, troubling at best.Corey, a Jacksonville native, took a degree in marketing from Florida State University before pursuing her J.D. at the University of Florida. She became a Florida prosecutor in 1981 and tried everything from homicides to juvenile cases in the ensuing 26 years. In 2008, Corey was elected state attorney for Florida’s Fourth Judicial Circuit, taking over from Harry Shorstein — the five-term state attorney who had fired her from his office a year earlier, citing “long-term issues” regarding her supervisory performance.When Corey came in, she cleaned house. Corey fired half of the office’s investigators, two-fifths of its victim advocates, a quarter of its 35 paralegals, and 48 other support staff — more than one-fifth of the office. Then she sent a letter to Florida’s senators demanding that they oppose Shorstein’s pending nomination as a U.S. attorney. “I told them he should not hold a position of authority in his community again, because of his penchant for using the grand jury for personal vendettas,” she wrote.Corey knows about personal vendettas. They seem to be her specialty. Continued >>Whistleblower Ben Kruidbos Sues the Pig — Claims Angela Corey and Prosecutors Withheld Evidence On Trayvon's Cell Phone From Defense Team(Reuters) - A former employee of Florida State Attorney Angela Corey's office plans to file a whistleblower lawsuit against George Zimmerman's prosecutors, his attorney told Reuters on Tuesday.The action will put pressure on Corey, who already faces criticism from some legal experts for the unsuccessful prosecution of the case, which led to the acquittal of Zimmerman for shooting unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman's defense has also called for sanctions against her and her prosecution team.Ben Kruidbos, Corey's former director of information technology, was fired after testifying at a pre-trial hearing on June 6 that prosecutors failed to turn over potentially embarrassing evidence extracted from Martin's cell phone to the defense, as required by evidence-sharing laws."We will be filing a whistleblower action in (Florida's Fourth Judicial District) Circuit Court," said Kruidbos' attorney Wesley White, himself a former prosecutor who was hired by Corey but resigned in December because he disagreed with her prosecutorial priorities. He said the suit will be filed within the next 30 days.Corey and lead prosecutor Bernie de la Rionda declined to comment. A spokeswoman for Corey referred Reuters to Kruidbos' termination letter, previously made public, in which Corey's office accused him of hacking confidential information from state computers.The six-page letter, dated July 11, charges Kruidbos with "deliberate, willful and unscrupulous actions" that make him untrustworthy and calls his questioning of de la Rionda's actions regarding the cell phone evidence "a shallow, but obvious, attempt to cloak yourself in the protection of the whistleblower law."

Peruvian Indian-American George Zimmerman Found 'Not Guilty' in Justifiable Shooting of Aspiring Thug Trayvon MartinGeorge Zimmerman is 1/8th African-American, 3/8th Peruvian Indian on his mother's side. On his father's side, he's German (surname meaning carpenter). His father is dark complexioned, appears to have another racial admixture. To summarize, Zimmerman is half-white like Obama

So-called celebs react to George Zimmerman verdict:

Miley Ray Cyrus: @MileyCyrus - "No justice. No peace," she wrote, followed by: "The world is a scary place."

Chris Rock: @chrisrockoz - Biggest irony is that George Zimmerman will never be able to go out in public without a hoodie ever again.

Alec Baldwin: "Florida is a parallel universe. A (expletive) one."

Tom Arnold: "Dear Son, I love you and there is no shame in running away from creepy ass crackers."

New York Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz sent a threatening tweet that has since been deleted from his account. He tweeted, "Thoroughly confused. Zimmerman doesn't last a year before the hood catches up to him."

Atlanta Falcons receiver Roddy White responded to the George Zimmerman not guilty verdict Saturday night by tweeting: “All them jurors should go home tonight and kill themselves for letting a grown man get away with killing a kid.”

Russell Simmons: "I know many people are very upset about the verdict, but we must remain peaceful. No matter what, remain peaceful."

Richard Dreyfuss: "It's 2013 and an American jury just acquitted a man who admitted to stalking and killing an unarmed child."

Nicki Minaj: "And our taxes paid for that trial. We just paid to see a murderer walk free after killing an innocent unarmed little boy. #GodBlessAmerica"

Al Sharpton: “The acquittal of George Zimmerman is a slap in the face to the American people but it is only the first round in the pursuit of justice. We intend to ask the Department of Justice to move forward as they did in the Rodney King case and we will closely monitor the civil case against Mr. Zimmerman. I will convene an emergency call with preachers tonight to discuss next steps ..."

Jesse Jackson: 'The Jury, No Black and No Men, Was Always Suspect' -- Early on Sunday morning, Reverend Jesse Jackson Sr. released a statement on Facebook regarding the acquittal of George Zimmerman in the killing of Trayvon Martin. He quickly blamed the absence of black members of the jury for the acquittal. “We are saddened and disappointed by this decision. It is a pattern involving young black men that is too often repeating itself. In my view the American legal system has once again failed justice. The jury, no black and no men, was always suspect.” Jackson then called for peaceful protest rather than violent protest.

NAACP Petition: “Attorney General Eric Holder,” the petition reads, “The Department of Justice has closely monitored the State of Florida’s prosecution of the case against George Zimmerman in the Trayvon Martin murder since it began. Today, with the acquittal of George Zimmerman, it is time for the Department of Justice to act.” “The most fundamental of civil rights — the right to life — was violated the night George Zimmerman stalked and then took the life of Trayvon Martin,” the NAACP wrote. “We ask that the Department of Justice file civil rights charges against Mr. Zimmerman for this egregious violation.”

Rapper Lupe Fiasco: ‘Black blood spills in the streets of ... at the hands [of] other blacks’ In the wake of the George Zimmerman verdict, P. Diddy, Big Boi, Nicki Minaj, Busta Rhymes and countless other rappers are blasting America as racist or worse. Rapper Lupe Fiasco is taking a very different tack. He suggests, first, that there is reasonable doubt about what happened between George Zimmerman and Trayvon Martin. He notes that most perpetrators of violent crime against black people are themselves black. The true enemy of black Americans is not the George Zimmermans of the world, he argues, but “complacency and cowardice” in the black community.

Beyonce holds moment of silence for Trayvon Martin -- Beyonce called for a moment of silence for Trayvon Martin during a concert just hours after George Zimmerman was found not guilty by a Florida jury. The pop star took a moment to honor the teen during her concert Saturday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tenn.

Trayvon's Skittles, Arizona Iced Tea and Something Called 'Purple Drank'Media speculation as well as internet buzz are openly querying if Trayvon Martin's purchase of Skittles and Arizona Watermelon Fruit Cocktail Juice on the night he died were just to satisfy a young man's sweet tooth or were they two of the three ingredients in a dangerous codeine-based concoction, as reported by the pop culture news portalRashManly.com on July 12, 2013.Martin has been portrayed by his supporters as an innocent youth armed with nothing more than a bag of Skittles candy and a can of Arizona Iced Tea on the night he was killed by neighborhood watch captain George Zimmerman..During the course of the trial, State Prosecutor John Guy made it official when he identified to the jury Martin's personal possessions found on his body by police, to include an "unopened bag of Skittles" as well as a "full can of watermelon-flavored drink," as reported by Central Florida News 13 on June 25, 2013.Without citing reference sources, RashManly.com accuses Martin of admitting on his Facebook account as early as June 27, 2011 of being an abuser of a codeine, soft drink and candy beverage popularly known as "Purple Drank" or "Lean."According to the hipster website, Martin asked a friend online, “unow a connect for codien?”Martin went on to tell his friend that “robitussin nd soda” could make “some fire ass lean.”He says, “I had it before” and that he wants “to make some more.”The RashManly.com statements are credibility-weak without any source documentation cited, but that's exactly what the openly right-of-center weblog/news portal The Conservative Tree House has posted on their site via screen captures of the actual Facebook pages (click here to view).As cited by the popular contemporary culture reference site Urban Dictionary, Purple Drank/Lean also goes by the street names of sizzurp, Texas Tea and liquid codeine.Purple Drank is commonly used by Southern Rappers and "wannabe suburban teenagers" according to Urban Dictionary.Also cited is that the intoxicant is "a mixture of Promethazine/Codeine cough syrup" and any given store-bought clear soft drink or juice.To further enhance the sweet taste that appeals to the mostly youthful users, Urban Dictionary cites Purple Drank also has "a few jolly ranchers and/or skittles thrown in."TRAYVON TEXT MESSAGES WITH FRIEND ABOUT PURPLE DRANK (aka LEAN)Trayvon could be enjoying getting high on Purple Drank/Lean every day if he hadn't walked two milesin the rain to get the 2 ingredients he needed to mix with Codeine cough syrup that tragic night.

Trayvon Martin's Run-Ins With the Law Few Knew, Ignored by U.S. MediaBefore the echoes of "no justice, no peace" chants by the Revolutionary Communist Party faded from hearing outside the Seminole County courthouse, The Daily Mail (of London, England) has cited on July 14, 2013 of Treyvon Martin's past run ins with both school officials and police in his hometown of Miami, Florida. Prior to moving to Sanford, Florida to spend the summer with his father and his girlfriend, Martin lived with his mother, Sabrina Fulton in the Miami suburb of Miami Gardens. It was while a student at Dr. Michael M. Krop Senior High School that Martin's disciplinary and criminal past started to be documented by various government authorities.It was at Krop that the 6' 2" 11th grader was suspended last February for possession of marijuana. The Daily Mail also reported that photographs of Martin have also surfaced on various social media sites showing Martin smoking marijuana, as well as a different photo of a semi-automatic pistol presumably owned by him.As innocuous as certain supporters of the slain teen believe those pictures to be, in an article widely ignored by most American media outlets, the Miami Herald reported on Mar. 26, 2012 that Martin actually had more than a few specific cases of involvement with school authorities and the Miami-Dade School Police Department (M-DSPF), which is independent of the Miami Police Department.Martin was actually suspended from school on three different occasions.

● Most recently for the possession of marijuana and a marijuana pipe. ● Four months earlier for graffiti, penning in permanent marker "WTF" (an acronym for “what the f---”) on a school door. ● He had also been suspended for multiple and habitual tardiness and truancy.

The Backpack, Jewelry and a Screwdriver...Within the opening weeks of the 2012-2013 school year, Martin was seen by a School Resource Officer on the school's surveillance camera in an unauthorized area “hiding and being suspicious.”It was then that the police officer stated he saw Martin mark up a door with a permanent marker, defacing it with “WTF”.The next day the school police searched his backpack searching for the graffiti marker. Instead the officer reported finding 12 pieces of women's jewelry according to a Miami-Dade Schools Police report obtained by The Miami Herald.Besides the numerous silver wedding bands and diamond earrings, the pack also contained a watch and a large flathead screwdriver, according to the report was described as a "burglary tool".The police report went on to state the officer asked Martin if the jewelry belonged to his family or a girlfriend.“Martin replied it’s not mine. A friend gave it to me,” he responded, according to the report. Martin declined to name the friend.As reported by the Miami Herald, "Trayvon was not disciplined because of the discovery, but was instead suspended for graffiti, according to the report. School police impounded the jewelry and sent photos of the items to detectives at Miami-Dade police for further investigation."Since then, there have been no citable sources as to the status of the investigation or the whereabouts of the impounded property.The Curious Case Of Trayvon Martin's Backpack With Stolen JewelryIronically were it not for Frances Robles writing a Miami Herald article on March 26th 2012 an entire chain of events would not have taken place.It was that Robles article, and the outlining of the Miami-Dade School Police Department’s report on a Trayvon Martin incident from October 2011, that kicked off an internal investigation by M-DSPD Police Chief Hurley against his own officers to find out who leaked the police report.[Note: The Miami-Dade Public School System has its own Police force, and Chief, who report to the School Board and Superintendent - Not the Police Dept. The Police Chief is appointed by the School Superintendent, in this example, Alberto Carvalho]It was that M-DSPD internal affairs investigation which revealed in October 2011 Trayvon Martin was searched by School Resource Officer, Darryl Dunn.The search of Trayvon Martin’s backpack turned up at least 12 pcs of ladies jewelry, and a man’s watch, in addition to a flat head screwdriver described as “a burglary tool”.When Trayvon was questioned about who owned the jewelry and where it came from, he claimed he was just holding it for a “friend”. A “friend” he would not name.Later, after the police report was outlined in the Robles article, and despite Trayvon being suspended for the second time in a new school year, Martin family attorney, Benjamin Crump, said Trayvon’s dad, Tracy Martin, and Trayvon’s mom, Sybrina Fulton, did not know anything about the jewelry case.It was only as a consequence of the M-DSPD internal affairs investigation that “why” they may not have known came to light.On October 21st 2011 a burglary took place a few blocks from Krop Senior High School where Trayvon Martin attended. The stolen property outlined in the Miami-Dade Police Report (PD111021-422483) matches the descriptive presented by SRO Dunn in his School Police report 2011-11477.However, there was ONE big issue. SRO Dunn never filed a criminal report, nor opened a criminal investigation, surrounding the stolen jewelry. Instead, and as a result of pressure from M-DSPD Chief Hurley to avoid criminal reports for black male students, Dunn wrote up the jewelry as “found items”, and transferred them, along with the burglary tool, to the Miami-Dade Police property room where they sat on a shelf unassigned to anyone for investigation.A separate report of “criminal Mischief” (T-08809) was filed for the additional issue of writing “WTF” on a school locker. [It was the search for the marker used to write the graffiti that led to the backpack search].The school discipline, “suspension”, was attached to the graffiti and not the stolen jewelry.The connections between the Police Burglary report and the School Report of “found items” were never made because the regular police detective in charge of the Burglary case had no idea the School Police Dept. had filed a “found items” report. Two differing police departments, and the School Officer, Dunn, intentionally took the criminal element out of the equation – instead preferring “school discipline” and not “criminal adjudication”. It was only when the M-DSPD Internal Affairs investigation kicked in, and six officers gave sworn affidavits, the manipulative scheme to improve criminal statistics within the School System were identified openly.School Superintendent Alberto Carvalho gave his hire, Police Chief Hurley, instructions to reduce the criminal behavior of young black males. The chosen strategy between them, to insure optical success, was to stop using the Criminal Justice System to punish black student behavior. Instead they instructed the School Resource Officers to use school discipline in place of criminal justice.Another approach was the use of The Baker Act, to quantify behaviors under health HIPPA law secrecy by assigning the students with psychological problems. This allowed them to again use school discipline and work around criminal reports.Without the reports, the statistics would improve immensely; And improve they did.The final approach, to insure no-one would find out about the manipulation, was to change the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for inter-agency information sharing.This new SOP was outlined by a communications directive in 2010 forbidding the sharing of Miami-Dade School Police reports to outside agencies without redaction. Officers had to send any and all requests through the public information officer.Hence, the furor of Chief Hurley when the Robles article hit the press and cited police reports – Hurley smelled a leaker and launched an investigation. Ultimately the internal affairs investigation initiated by Hurley led to his own firing, because the officers questioned told the internal affairs investigators the truth of what was going on and outed the scheme. One of the examples of this in action was the jewelry incident and Trayvon Martin – as accidentally outlined in the Herald report. But the Herald never knew their reporting had launched an internal affairs investigation which led to the collapse of the scheme.Meanwhile the stolen jewelry from the burglary (PD111021-422483) was sitting on a shelf in the Property Room listed as (2011-11477 “found items) gathering dust. Until we started digging, and the FOIA requests revealed not only the scheme, but the fact a victim was never made whole with the return of their items.That is, until now.Yesterday we contacted Detective Manresa, assigned to the burglary case, of the Miami-Dade Police Department to notify him some of his victims’ stolen items were actually in the Miami-Dade property room:Subject: Attn: Detective Omar Manresa [RE: PD111021-422483 Burglary at XXXX XX XXXXX]

Dear Detective Manresa,Per phone conversation of 4/30/13 @ 10:20am regarding burglary incident #PD111021-422483During the course of research surrounding an internal affairs M-DSPD investigation in March/April of 2012 it coincidentally came to our attention that School Resource Officer Darryl Dunn (Dr. Krop Senior High School) filled out a report of items from a student’s backpack without criminal attachment.The internal documentation used by SRO Dunn only listed the contents of the backpack as “found items” and a burglary tool. He was trying to avoid subjecting the student [Trayvon Martin] to a criminal investigation, therefore no criminal report, nor investigation was initiated.This action by SRO Dunn was taken at the direction and request of former M-DSPD Police Chief Hurley who had advised his officers to avoid writing criminal reports on student offenders; Apparently in an attempt to artificially improve the recorded criminal student statistics.The internal report #2011-11477 never attached the stolen property to the student who was carrying it when searched. The property was taken to the custody of Carmen Gonzalez, Property Specialist, where it was held, and still should be located.The details surrounding this event are outlined in the following sworn affidavits completed by members of the Miami-Dade School Police Department. (they are extensive)http://www.scribd.com/doc/135564937/Sergeant-William-Tagle-Internal-Affairs-Investigative-Reporthttp://www.scribd.com/doc/135684004/Steven-N-Hadley-Sr-affidavit-and-investigationhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/135692728/Affidavit-From-Commander-Deanna-Fox-Williamshttp://www.scribd.com/doc/136164820/sergeant-Lourdes-Hodges-Sworn-Statement-Affidavithttp://www.scribd.com/doc/136392330/Sworn-affidavit-of-Detective-Gylamar-Ochoa-MDSPDhttp://www.scribd.com/doc/136642019/Sergeant-Bradley-Rosh-MDSPD-Sworn-Affidavit

As mentioned, if you contact the victim of Miami-Dade burglary #PD111021-422483, and review with them the property confiscated by M-DSPD SRO Dunn listed under #2011-11477, we believe you will be able to return at least a portion of the stolen merchandise.Perhaps some of the items returned may have sentimental, as well as obvious financial, value.

MSM HAS LOST ALL CREDIBILITY!

15Obama Appoints 'Brainy Hot Chick' with Risque Past to CIA’s No. 2 Spot, Entertained Guests on 'Erotica Night'White House Lawyer Avril Haines Elevated to CIA Deputy Director PostOn Wednesday, the CIA announced that Deputy Director Michael Morell would be replaced by White House lawyer Avril Haines.It didn’t take long for media outlets to poke around and find some intriguing elements from Haines’ past. Perhaps the most odd tidbit is the notion that she once read sexy novels aloud at a bookstore she co-owned years ago. These readings would take place on designated “erotica nights.”Since leaving behind her literary career, Haines has built up quite a fascinating and impressive resume. Before being nominated to the CIA’s number two role, she worked in the White House Counsel’s office, the Daily Beast notes, where she approved covert actions and served as a liaison between Obama and the CIA.And a biography presented on the FORA.tv website in 2011 read as follows:Avril Haines is the Assistant Legal Adviser for Treaty Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. She was formerly the Deputy Chief Counsel for the Majority on the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations during the 110th Congress and prior to that, Avril served as an attorney adviser and a deputy assistant legal adviser at the U.S. Department of State, where she worked on treaty affairs and the law of war (serving in Iraq for a short period).Avril was a legal officer at the Hague Conference on Private International Law and has published in the area of private international law and international humanitarian law. Over the course of her career, she has represented the United States on delegations to the Hague Conference, the United Nations, and elsewhere. Avril clerked for Chief Judge Danny Boggs of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.These impressive details aside, her activities nearly two decades ago are certainly worth noting. The Beast provides some details:…20 years ago, Haines opened and co-owned Adrian’s Book Café in the Baltimore waterfront neighborhood of Fells Point. She opened Adrian’s after dropping out of a graduate program in physics at Johns Hopkins University. The store featured regular “Erotica Nights.” including dinner and a series of readings by guests of published work or their own prose, according to a 1995 report in the Baltimore Sun; couples could attend for $30, while singles paid $17. [...]But her bookstore was hardly defined by erotica (which was shelved between self-help and parenting), stocking titles from a variety of smaller publishing houses and local authors, and offering a café. Haines was also well respected in the close-knit waterfront neighborhood of Fells Point, according to former neighbors.One of them, long-time neighborhood fixture Steve Bunker, who has since retired to Maine, raved about Haines to The Daily Beast, saying “She’s brilliant, has a genius IQ, is easy to work with, and reliable.” He recalled going to New Year’s Eve parties with her at the graduate program in physics then owned by her father, Dr. Thomas Haines, a liberal activist and noted chemist, on the Upper West Side of New York.In a 1995 interview about Adrian’s Book Café with the Baltimore Sun, Haines was candid about the popularity of the sex-themed book readings. At first, she apparently wasn’t sold on the idea of hosting erotica readings, as she viewed the theme as pornographic in nature, but after reading some stories, her views changed.“Erotica has become more prevalent because people are trying to have sex without having sex,” she told the Sun at the time. “Others are trying to find new fantasies to make their monogamous relationships more satisfying. … What the erotic offers is spontaneity, twists and turns. And it affects everyone.”She continued, noting that she got some push-back in the 1990s from friends who teased about the store.“We were terrified who might show up. We thought it would be a bunch of dirty old men,” Haines also said at the time. “And a lot of our friends gave us a hard time. They said, ‘You just want a mass orgy in your bookstore.’”Years after this intriguing career choice, it seems Haines, who is clearly well-liked by who have worked with her, will be leading one of America’s most covert agencies.

Edward Snowden: Whistleblower Comes Forward as Source of Leaks to "The Guardian"The 29-year-old source behind the biggest intelligence leak in the NSA's history explains his motives, his uncertain future and why he never intended on hiding in the shadows'I am not afraid, because this is the choice I've made — You can't wait around for someone else to act — I feel satisfied that this was all worth it. I have no regrets.'

UK's The Guardian -- The individual responsible for one of the most significant leaks in U.S. political history is Edward Snowden, a 29-year-old former technical assistant for the CIA and current employee of the defence contractor Booz Allen Hamilton. Snowden has been working at the National Security Agency for the last four years as an employee of various outside contractors, including Booz Allen and Dell.The Guardian, after several days of interviews, is revealing his identity at his request. From the moment he decided to disclose numerous top-secret documents to the public, he was determined not to opt for the protection of anonymity. "I have no intention of hiding who I am because I know I have done nothing wrong," he said.Snowden will go down in history as one of America's most consequential whistleblowers, alongside Daniel Ellsberg and Bradley Manning. He is responsible for handing over material from one of the world's most secretive organisations – the NSA.In a note accompanying the first set of documents he provided, he wrote: "I understand that I will be made to suffer for my actions," but "I will be satisfied if the federation of secret law, unequal pardon and irresistible executive powers that rule the world that I love are revealed even for an instant."Despite his determination to be publicly unveiled, he repeatedly insisted that he wants to avoid the media spotlight. "I don't want public attention because I don't want the story to be about me. I want it to be about what the US government is doing."He does not fear the consequences of going public, he said, only that doing so will distract attention from the issues raised by his disclosures. "I know the media likes to personalise political debates, and I know the government will demonise me."Despite these fears, he remained hopeful his outing will not divert attention from the substance of his disclosures. "I really want the focus to be on these documents and the debate which I hope this will trigger among citizens around the globe about what kind of world we want to live in." He added: "My sole motive is to inform the public as to that which is done in their name and that which is done against them."He has had "a very comfortable life" that included a salary of roughly $200,000, a girlfriend with whom he shared a home in Hawaii, a stable career, and a family he loves. "I'm willing to sacrifice all of that because I can't in good conscience allow the US government to destroy privacy, internet freedom and basic liberties for people around the world with this massive surveillance machine they're secretly building."Three weeks ago, Snowden made final preparations that resulted in last week's series of blockbuster news stories. At the NSA office in Hawaii where he was working, he copied the last set of documents he intended to disclose.He then advised his NSA supervisor that he needed to be away from work for "a couple of weeks" in order to receive treatment for epilepsy, a condition he learned he suffers from after a series of seizures last year.As he packed his bags, he told his girlfriend that he had to be away for a few weeks, though he said he was vague about the reason. "That is not an uncommon occurrence for someone who has spent the last decade working in the intelligence world."On May 20, he boarded a flight to Hong Kong, where he has remained ever since. He chose the city because "they have a spirited commitment to free speech and the right of political dissent", and because he believed that it was one of the few places in the world that both could and would resist the dictates of the US government.In the three weeks since he arrived, he has been ensconced in a hotel room. "I've left the room maybe a total of three times during my entire stay," he said. It is a plush hotel and, what with eating meals in his room too, he has run up big bills.He is deeply worried about being spied on. He lines the door of his hotel room with pillows to prevent eavesdropping. He puts a large red hood over his head and laptop when entering his passwords to prevent any hidden cameras from detecting them.Though that may sound like paranoia to some, Snowden has good reason for such fears. He worked in the US intelligence world for almost a decade. He knows that the biggest and most secretive surveillance organisation in America, the NSA, along with the most powerful government on the planet, is looking for him.Since the disclosures began to emerge, he has watched television and monitored the internet, hearing all the threats and vows of prosecution emanating from Washington.And he knows only too well the sophisticated technology available to them and how easy it will be for them to find him. The NSA police and other law enforcement officers have twice visited his home in Hawaii and already contacted his girlfriend, though he believes that may have been prompted by his absence from work, and not because of suspicions of any connection to the leaks."All my options are bad," he said. The US could begin extradition proceedings against him, a potentially problematic, lengthy and unpredictable course for Washington. Or the Chinese government might whisk him away for questioning, viewing him as a useful source of information. Or he might end up being grabbed and bundled into a plane bound for US territory."Yes, I could be rendered by the CIA. I could have people come after me. Or any of the third-party partners. They work closely with a number of other nations. Or they could pay off the Triads. Any of their agents or assets," he said."We have got a CIA station just up the road – the consulate here in Hong Kong – and I am sure they are going to be busy for the next week. And that is a concern I will live with for the rest of my life, however long that happens to be."Having watched the Obama administration prosecute whistleblowers at a historically unprecedented rate, he fully expects the US government to attempt to use all its weight to punish him. "I am not afraid," he said calmly, "because this is the choice I've made."He predicts the government will launch an investigation and "say I have broken the Espionage Act and helped our enemies, but that can be used against anyone who points out how massive and invasive the system has become".The only time he became emotional during the many hours of interviews was when he pondered the impact his choices would have on his family, many of whom work for the US government. "The only thing I fear is the harmful effects on my family, who I won't be able to help any more. That's what keeps me up at night," he said, his eyes welling up with tears.Snowden did not always believe the US government posed a threat to his political values. He was brought up originally in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. His family moved later to Maryland, near the NSA headquarters in Fort Meade.By his own admission, he was not a stellar student. In order to get the credits necessary to obtain a high school diploma, he attended a community college in Maryland, studying computing, but never completed the coursework.In 2003, he enlisted in the US army and began a training program to join the Special Forces. Invoking the same principles that he now cites to justify his leaks, he said: "I wanted to fight in the Iraq war because I felt like I had an obligation as a human being to help free people from oppression".He recounted how his beliefs about the war's purpose were quickly dispelled. "Most of the people training us seemed pumped up about killing Arabs, not helping anyone," he said. After he broke both his legs in a training accident, he was discharged.After that, he got his first job in an NSA facility, working as a security guard for one of the agency's covert facilities at the University of Maryland. From there, he went to the CIA, where he worked on IT security. His understanding of the internet and his talent for computer programming enabled him to rise fairly quickly for someone who lacked even a high school diploma.By 2007, the CIA stationed him with diplomatic cover in Geneva, Switzerland. His responsibility for maintaining computer network security meant he had clearance to access a wide array of classified documents.That access, along with the almost three years he spent around CIA officers, led him to begin seriously questioning the rightness of what he saw.He described as formative an incident in which he claimed CIA operatives were attempting to recruit a Swiss banker to obtain secret banking information. Snowden said they achieved this by purposely getting the banker drunk and encouraging him to drive home in his car. When the banker was arrested for drunk driving, the undercover agent seeking to befriend him offered to help, and a bond was formed that led to successful recruitment."Much of what I saw in Geneva really disillusioned me about how my government functions and what its impact is in the world," he says. "I realised that I was part of something that was doing far more harm than good."He said it was during his CIA stint in Geneva that he thought for the first time about exposing government secrets. But, at the time, he chose not to for two reasons.First, he said: "Most of the secrets the CIA has are about people, not machines and systems, so I didn't feel comfortable with disclosures that I thought could endanger anyone". Secondly, the election of Barack Obama in 2008 gave him hope that there would be real reforms, rendering disclosures unnecessary.He left the CIA in 2009 in order to take his first job working for a private contractor that assigned him to a functioning NSA facility, stationed on a military base in Japan. It was then, he said, that he "watched as Obama advanced the very policies that I thought would be reined in", and as a result, "I got hardened."The primary lesson from this experience was that "you can't wait around for someone else to act. I had been looking for leaders, but I realised that leadership is about being the first to act."Over the next three years, he learned just how all-consuming the NSA's surveillance activities were, claiming "they are intent on making every conversation and every form of behaviour in the world known to them".He described how he once viewed the internet as "the most important invention in all of human history". As an adolescent, he spent days at a time "speaking to people with all sorts of views that I would never have encountered on my own".But he believed that the value of the internet, along with basic privacy, is being rapidly destroyed by ubiquitous surveillance. "I don't see myself as a hero," he said, "because what I'm doing is self-interested: I don't want to live in a world where there's no privacy and therefore no room for intellectual exploration and creativity."Once he reached the conclusion that the NSA's surveillance net would soon be irrevocable, he said it was just a matter of time before he chose to act. "What they're doing" poses "an existential threat to democracy", he said.

A Matter of PrincipleAs strong as those beliefs are, there still remains the question: why did he do it? Giving up his freedom and a privileged lifestyle? "There are more important things than money. If I were motivated by money, I could have sold these documents to any number of countries and gotten very rich."For him, it is a matter of principle. "The government has granted itself power it is not entitled to. There is no public oversight. The result is people like myself have the latitude to go further than they are allowed to," he said.His allegiance to internet freedom is reflected in the stickers on his laptop: "I support Online Rights: Electronic Frontier Foundation," reads one. Another hails the online organisation offering anonymity, the Tor Project.Asked by reporters to establish his authenticity to ensure he is not some fantasist, he laid bare, without hesitation, his personal details, from his social security number to his CIA ID and his expired diplomatic passport. There is no shiftiness. Ask him about anything in his personal life and he will answer.He is quiet, smart, easy-going and self-effacing. A master on computers, he seemed happiest when talking about the technical side of surveillance, at a level of detail comprehensible probably only to fellow communication specialists. But he showed intense passion when talking about the value of privacy and how he felt it was being steadily eroded by the behaviour of the intelligence services.His manner was calm and relaxed but he has been understandably twitchy since he went into hiding, waiting for the knock on the hotel door. A fire alarm goes off. "That has not happened before," he said, betraying anxiety wondering if was real, a test or a CIA ploy to get him out onto the street.Strewn about the side of his bed are his suitcase, a plate with the remains of room-service breakfast, and a copy of Angler, the biography of former vice-president Dick Cheney.Ever since last week's news stories began to appear in the Guardian, Snowden has vigilantly watched TV and read the internet to see the effects of his choices. He seemed satisfied that the debate he longed to provoke was finally taking place.He lay, propped up against pillows, watching CNN's Wolf Blitzer ask a discussion panel about government intrusion if they had any idea who the leaker was. From 8,000 miles away, the leaker looked on impassively, not even indulging in a wry smile.Snowden said that he admires both Ellsberg and Manning, but argues that there is one important distinction between himself and the army private, whose trial coincidentally began the week Snowden's leaks began to make news."I carefully evaluated every single document I disclosed to ensure that each was legitimately in the public interest," he said. "There are all sorts of documents that would have made a big impact that I didn't turn over, because harming people isn't my goal. Transparency is."He purposely chose, he said, to give the documents to journalists whose judgment he trusted about what should be public and what should remain concealed.As for his future, he is vague. He hoped the publicity the leaks have generated will offer him some protection, making it "harder for them to get dirty".He views his best hope as the possibility of asylum, with Iceland – with its reputation of a champion of internet freedom – at the top of his list. He knows that may prove a wish unfulfilled.But after the intense political controversy he has already created with just the first week's haul of stories, "I feel satisfied that this was all worth it. I have no regrets."Edward Snowden: I mistakenly believed in Obama’s promises By Charlie Spiering -- Edward Snowden, the self-revealed whistle-blower at the National Security Agency, explains that part of the reason he decided to come forward was because President Obama did not roll back the surveillance measures put into place by the Bush Administration.“A lot of people in 2008 voted for Obama. I did not vote for him. I voted for a third party,” Snowden said in an interview with the Guardian. “But I believed in Obama’s promises. I was going to disclose it [but waited because of his election]. He continued with the policies of his predecessor.”Snowden acknowledged that he watched Obama struggle as he attempted to justify the surveillance programs during his press conference on Friday.“My immediate reaction was he was having difficulty in defending it himself,” Snowden said about Obama. “He was trying to defend the unjustifiable and he knew it.”Snowden referred to a “grassroots movement” planning to take to the streets on July 4 in defense of the Fourth Amendment. The movement is called “Restore The Fourth Amendment,” and grew out of the Reddit community.“I have been surprised and pleased to see the public has reacted so strongly in defence of these rights that are being suppressed in the name of security,” Snowden said in the interview.The Guardian's Glenn Greenwald: I have more secrets to revealBy Charlie Spiering -- On ABC’s ‘This Week,’ journalist Glenn Greenwald explained that Americans could expect him to reveal more secrets about the government surveillance programs. Greenwald wrote two bombshell stories last week in the Guardian newspaper – one about the National Security Agency obtaining phone records from Verizon customers and one about the agency’s PRISM program. “[S]hould we be expecting more revelations from you?” asked Stephanopoulos. “You should,” Greenwald answered shortly. Greenwald remained quiet about his sources, reminding Stephanopoulos about the importance of whistle-blowers.Booz Allen Hamilton: Edward Snowden's U.S. contracting firmBy Julian Borger -- Booz Allen Hamilton, Edward Snowden's employer, is one of America's biggest security contractors and a significant part of the constantly revolving door between the US intelligence establishment and the private sector. The current of director of national intelligence (DNI), James Clapper, who issued a stinging attack on the intelligence leaks this weekend, is a former Booz Allen executive. The firm's current vice-chairman, Mike McConnell, was DNI under the George W Bush administration. He worked for the Virginia-based company before taking the job, and returned to the firm after leaving it.programs. Continued >>Edward Snowden Donated $500 To Ron Paul’s 2012 Presidential CampaignBy Christopher Zara -- Does NSA Whistleblower Have Libertarian Leanings? Campaign contribution records appear to show that Edward Snowden, the confessed National Security Agency whistle-blower who spoke out against government surveillance in the Guardian on Sunday, donated $500 to Ron Paul’s 2012 presidential bid. Records at CampaignMoney.com show two contributions of $250 each from an Edward Snowden with addresses in Hawaii and Maryland. Continued >>NSA Leaker: I Had Authority 'To Wiretap Anyone'By Tony Lee -- Edward Snowden, the 29-year-old who leaked information about the NSA's data surveillance programs, said he had the authority to wiretap even the president's email if he had a personal email address. In an interview with Glenn Greenwald the UK Guardian posted on Sunday, Snowden said while the NSA surveillance programs were at first more narrowly tailored, the agency now "specifically targets the communications of everyone" and stores them because "it's the easiest and most efficient" way to achieve their ends. He said he had the authority to wiretap nearly everyone in the United States. Continued >>William A. Jacobson: Snowden Job?It seems that nothing is ever as it seems. It may be that Edward Snowden is what he seems to be — an Obama-supporter who, despite barely gaining a GED, managed to work his way into sensitive technical positions at the CIA, NSA and private contractors, and then became disillusioned that abuse of individual privacy he witnessed under the Bush administration was not cured and if anything worsened under Obama, and who, despite four years of Obama-rule in which to leak embarrassing documents, waited until late May 2013 in which to take and then dump on Glenn Greenwald a treasure trove of seemingly embarrassing documents which allegedly show a massive data-mining operation and desire to control all the world’s information. Continued >>Snowden Drops Out of Sight, Faces Legal BattleBy John Whitesides - A contractor at the National Security Agency who leaked details of top-secret U.S. surveillance programs dropped out of sight in Hong Kong on Monday ahead of a likely push by the U.S. government to have him sent back to the United States to face charges.Edward Snowden, 29, who provided the information for published reports last week that revealed the NSA's broad monitoring of phone call and Internet data from large companies such as Google and Facebook, checked out of his Hong Kong hotel hours after going public in a video released on Sunday by Britain's Guardian newspaper.The disclosures by Snowden have sent shockwaves across Washington, where several lawmakers called on Monday for the extradition and prosecution of the ex-CIA employee who was behind one of the most significant security leaks in U.S. history.There were some signs, however, that Snowden's stance against government surveillance and his defense of personal privacy was resonating with at least some Americans.Supporters flocked to Snowden's aid on the Internet - more than 25,000 people signed an online petition urging Obama to pardon Snowden even before he has been charged. A separate effort on Facebook to raise funds for Snowden's legal defense netted nearly $8,000 in just a few hours. Continued >>

Santa Monica Shooting Suspect Identified as John ZawahriJohn Samir Zawahri (Born 06/08/1989)This 2006 picture of John Zawahri was taken when he was a junior at Santa Monica High School.LA Times -- The gunman accused of killing four people in a Santa Monica shooting rampage Friday was apparently angry over his parents' divorce and had some mental health issues in the past, a law enforcement source told The Times.The suspect was identified by five law enforcement sources in Washington and Los Angeles as John Zawahri, in his 20s.Other sources with knowledge of the investigation said detectives believe the shooting was sparked by a family dispute of some kind but emphasized that the investigation was still in its early stages.The suspect's past mental health issues occurred when he was juvenile, the law enforcement source said, but no further details were offered. The sources all spoke on the condition of anonymity because the case was ongoing.These sources said the alleged gunman's first victims were his father and brother, whose bodies were found in a burning home.One thing the investigators were trying to figure out is why the suspect wanted to be driven to Santa Monica College, where he was ultimately killed by police. Continued >>

Cincinnati IRS Employees: Washington IRS Lawyer Carter Hull Oversaw Targeting of Conservative GroupsIRS Agent: 'I won't let Obama throw me under the bus!'By Patrick Howley -- A Washington IRS attorney named Carter Hull closely oversaw the targeting of conservative nonprofit groups and suggested questions that IRS employees could ask of conservative and Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt nonprofit status, according to interviews that two IRS employees gave with congressional investigators.“I was essentially a front person, because I had no autonomy or no authority to act on [applications] without Carter Hull’s influence or input,” said Elizabeth Hofacre, an employee of the Cincinnati IRS office, according to a new report in the Wall Street Journal.Hofacre’s office, which oversaw tax-exempt applications, reportedly requested help from the agency’s Exempt Organizations Technical unit in Washington, D.C. in 2010 to deal with an influx of new applications from Tea Party groups.IRS attorney Hull sent Hofacre additional information request letters [pdf] that he’d already sent to two tea party groups and instructed her to use them as a “foundation to prepare and review” cases and prepare her own letters to new applicants.As The Daily Caller has reported, at least five different IRS offices in Cincinnati, Ohio; Baltimore, Maryland; Chicago, Illinois; Laguna Niguel and El Monte, California; improperly demanded extensive information from conservative groups applying for tax-exempt nonprofit status between 2010 and 2012. The IRS demanded copies of training materials distributed by conservative groups, as well as personal information on college interns and even the contents of a religious group’s prayers.One employee of the agency’s Cincinnati office told congressional investigators last week that Washington was “basically throwing us underneath the bus.”Carter Hull, who is a co-author of a 1995chapter [pdf] on scrutinizing 501(c)(5) labor unions in the construction industry, lists his residence as Silver Spring, Maryland on his Facebook page.Hull could not be reached for comment by The Wall Street Journal, which viewed transcripts of the IRS employees’ interviews Wednesday.Who is Carter Hull?'I love to target Tea Partiers!'By Carol Platt Liebau -- Last night, the Wall Street Journal reported on transcripts of congressional interviews with IRS employees. In them, the name "Carter Hull" -- an IRS lawyer in Washington -- surfaces as someone in DC who oversaw the targeting in Ohio and even suggested some of the questions used to harass conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.Here is a technical instruction document Hull co-authored, and his name appears as the author of articles and e-books on tax matters. Here is his Facebook page.He is a graduate of a private Quaker school -- and I would guess from his age and his attendance at a private boarding/day school that he attended boarding school back in an era when that experience was largely reserved for young people from fairly affluent circumstances.This is also a person obviously of some experience and knowledge with the tax law, who would have clearly known the targeting operation was wrong.
No doubt we will all be learning more about Mr. Hull soon.Breaking! Carter Hull Suddenly Retires to Spend More Time with His FamilyCarter Hull, the Washington-based IRS lawyer who oversaw targeting of conservative groups beginning in 2010, will retire this summer. Hull was fingered in interviews with two IRS employees as the overseer of the agency’s improper targeting of conservative groups beginning in 2010. Continued >>

IRS Employees: Washington D.C. Told Us to Target Tea PartyIRS Agent: 'Washington, DC wanted some cases . . . I sent seven'By David Freddoso -- Since the IRS targeting scandal began, top IRS brass has maintained that this very politically convenient suppression of conservative non-profit groups’ applications was the work of a few low-level employees in the Cincinnati IRS office. But those provincial IRS employees have offered a very different story under questioning from the House Oversight committee staff.House Oversight chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., posted partial transcripts today from two of the interviews, in which all names are redacted. Although the Cincinnati employees’ denials should be taken with a grain of salt (like all the other IRS officials’ denials), these two interviews both point the finger back at the IRS in Washington — which is consistent with other accounts that both the conservative and mainstream press has unearthed.One of the low-level employees said that the Washington office was “basically throwing us underneath the bus” for an operation they had ordered and directed. And an employee described as being more senior said that he viewed the entire project as unfair and was so worried about being blamed for it later that he actually applied for another job in the summer of 2010. “I didn’t want my name in the paper for being this rogue agent for a project I had no control over,” the more senior employee said.This should make for some good hearings in the near future. Below is the partial transcript released by the committee:

Q: Did he give you any sort of indication as to why he requested you to do that? […]A: He said Washington, D.C. wanted seven. Because at one point I believe I heard they were thinking 10, but it came down to seven. I said okay, seven.Q: How did you decide which seven were sent?A: Just the first seven.Q: The first seven to come into the system?A: Yes.Tax Collectors 'Lived It Up' on Taxpayers Dime — Spent $50M on Conferences and Meetings in 3 YearsBy Rick Moran -- A Treasury Department Inspector General's report expected to be released tomorrow will reveal that the IRS spent about $50 million on conferences and meetings over the last two years.The conference spending included $4 million for an August 2010 gathering in Anaheim, Calif., for which the agency did not negotiate lower room rates, even though that is standard government practice, according to a statement by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.Instead, some of the 2,600 attendees received benefits, including baseball tickets and stays in presidential suites that normally cost $1,500 to $3,500 per night. In addition, 15 outside speakers were paid a total of $135,000 in fees, with one paid $17,000 to talk about "leadership through art," the House committee said.The new acting commissioner, Danny Werfel, released a statement on the forthcoming report criticizing the Anaheim meeting. "This conference is an unfortunate vestige from a prior era," Werfel said. "While there were legitimate reasons for holding the meeting, many of the expenses associated with it were inappropriate and should not have occurred." Continued>>

Unsurprisingly IRS Admits Whopping 88 Employees Were Involved in 'Anal Examinations of Perceived Enemy' Conservative GroupsIgnores Deadline as Scandal Extends Well Beyond the 'Mistakes By a Few Low Level Bureaucrats'!

The Internal Revenue Service has told House GOP investigators they have identified 88 IRS employees who may have documents relevant to the congressional investigation into targeting of conservative groups, according to a congressional source familiar with the investigation.The IRS asked these employees to preserve all the "responsive documents" on their computers, and it has been in the process of collecting it all to comply with congressional requests for information. The IRS missed its May 21st deadline to turn over documents to the House Ways and Means Committee. The same source said the IRS argues it missed its deadline because of the scope of documents it is collecting.The request for documents was a bipartisan one, but Republicans are privately preparing to seize on the fact that if nearly 90 IRS employees may have been somehow involved in this targeting, it is evidence that the controversy extends well beyond the mistakes by a few low level employees.However, with no documents in hand, there is no way to know how many of the employees being asked to preserve documents were truly involved in the activity in question. The IRS, in a statement to CNN, said the large number reflects its effort to ensure they are as responsive as possible to the Congressional requests."The IRS and Acting Commissioner Danny Werfel are moving aggressively and taking the data requests very seriously. As a precautionary measure, the IRS is casting a wide net to capture any potentially related materials. Our goal is to be exceedingly thorough during this process to ensure we identify any and all pertinent records," the IRS statement said."The IRS has received numerous congressional requests involving an extensive set of questions and calls for data. Responding to these requests is a top priority for us. We have been in contact with committee staff, and we continue to provide them updates as we diligently work through these requests."

Susan L. Anderson, Wife of Former IRS Chief Douglas Shulman Campaigned for Obama, Questioned Mitt Romney's TaxesSusan L. Anderson - Left-Wing Activist with "Public Campaign"By Kerry Picket -- Former Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Douglas Shulman is under fire from Congress for his agency's targeting of Tea Party and other conservative organizations. Shulman himself is under suspicion for his numerous visits to the White House compared to other administration officials. Additionally, Shulman's wife Susan L. Andersonreportedly works for the Washington D.C. based liberal organization "Public Campaign".In fact, according to Anderson's Twitter feed, she worked on the Obama campaign:En route to airport after working 3 days 4 OFA, MiL just asks me If I know abt the Chrysler ads :) #Obama2012 — Susan Anderson (@slandersonwdc) November 4, 2012

Anderson tweeted about spending time with union members during the campaign.After spending the day in East Dayton w/union folks working 4 Obama, this America's Future GM retirees' ad rings rather false.#Obama2012 — Susan Anderson (@slandersonwdc) November 4, 2012

The wife of the then Commissioner of the IRS also tweeted about Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney's taxes:Ha! "@ivanthek: If Romney loses the election, I bet he can file an amended return and claim the deductions he didn't claim.” — Susan Anderson (@slandersonwdc) September 21, 2012Reid calls on Romney to reveal his taxes - “@tpm: Romney calls on Reid to reveal his source: tpm.ly/QBWise” — Susan Anderson (@slandersonwdc) August 7, 2012Romney in class by himself - see @sunfoundation charts comparing Romney's tax returns to other presidents. bit.ly/LQegqf” — Susan Anderson (@slandersonwdc) July 26, 2012Folks go to Caymans to dodge taxes or dive reefs - wanna bet what Mitt was doing there?tinyurl.com/7zhlvtp — Susan Anderson (@slandersonwdc) January 19, 2012

In this tweet she makes an innocuous reference to her husband, Douglas Shulman.I have no idea what my husband is saying but all these tax + finance reporters are nodding their heads. #taxday — Susan Anderson (@slandersonwdc) April 6, 2011

Anderson took part in protests as well, according to her Twitter feed. She called on her Twitter followers to protest Karl Rove and his American Crossroads group. She also called for protesters to take action with the Wisconsin unions in DC.Join me @ 14 and NY Ave in DC for #takeback12. Confront Karl Rove + American Crossroads.Rebuild the American Dream. — Susan Anderson (@slandersonwdc) June 20, 2012Karl Rove, Crossroads, Get Money Out! #fairelections#rebuildthedreamtwitter.com/slandersonwdc/… — Susan Anderson (@slandersonwdc) June 20, 2012Join me @today's #WIUNION protest in DC - look 4 Adam's sign::twitpic.com/4a30cp — Susan Anderson (@slandersonwdc) March 16, 2011

Anderson's group, "Public Campaign", describes itself as, "a non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to sweeping campaign reform that aims to dramatically reduce the role of big special interest money in American politics.""Public Campaign" is laying the foundation for reform by working with a broad range of organizations, including local community groups, around the country that are fighting for change and national organizations whose members are not fairly represented under the current campaign finance system. Together we are building a network of national and state-based efforts to create a powerful national force for federal and state campaign reform.During a Congressional hearing, Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) questioned Shulman if he knew how Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) had information in supporting a July 2012 claim that Romney had not paid taxes for the last ten years. Shulman appeared not to know how or why Senator Reid made such a claim.Occupy IRS: Susan L. Anderson Joined 'Occupy Wall Street' in 2011By Kerry Picket --Susan L. Anderson, wife of embattled former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, was a supporter of, and active participant in, the Occupy Wall Street movement, attending and promoting Occupy DC in Oct. 2011.In the fall of 2011, during the height of the global Occupy protests, Anderson tweeted out to her followers:Jobs on Main Street, not on K-ching Wall Street! #takeback11 #ows #occupydemocracy http://yfrog.com/o0crsizj 12:20 PM - 5 Oct 2011 — Susan AndersonAt Larry Lessig teach-in @ #occupydc. Will intro him tonight on his new book on how big $ threatens our #republic @ GW Law #OWS 5:46 PM - 18 Oct 2011 — Susan AndersonDC, good morning! Come down to the Mall and tell your 99% story! pic. http://twitter.com/82lo24w7 9:16 AM - 6 Dec 2011 — Susan Anderson

IRS Chief Douglas Shulman Visited White House More Than Any Other Cabinet Member — 157 TIMES! By Rick Moran -- Former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman viisted the White House at least 157 times during the Obama administration, according to logs obtained by the Daily Caller.An analysis by The Daily Caller of the White House's public "visitor access records" showed that every current and former member of President Obama's Cabinet would have had to rack up at least 60 more public visits to the president's home to catch up with "Douglas Shulman."The visitor logs do not give a complete picture of White House access. Some high-level officials get cleared for access and do not have to sign in during visits. A Washington Post database
of visitor log records cautions, "The log may include some scheduled visits that did not take place and exclude visits by members of Congress, top officials and others who are not required to sign in at security gates."The White House press office declined to comment on which visits by high-ranking officials do and do not get recorded in the visitor log, but it is probable that the vast majority of visits by major cabinet members do not end up in the public record.Nevertheless, many visits by current and former cabinet members are in the logs, and the record depicts an IRS chief uniquely at home in the White House.Attorney General Eric Holder, President Obama's friend and loyal lieutenant, logged 62 publicly known White House visits, not even half as many as Shulman's 157.Former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, to whom Shulman reported, clocked in at just 48 publicly known visits.Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton earned a cool 43 public visits, and current Secretary of State John Kerry logged 49 known White House visits in the same timeframe, when he was still a U.S. senator.Shulman has more recorded visits to the White House than HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius (48), DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano (34), Education Secretary Arne Duncan (31), former Energy Secretary Steven Chu (22) and former Defense Secretary Robert Gates (17) combined.The Daily Caller's analysis includes current, former and presently-nominated members of Obama's Cabinet.After Shulman, Acting Secretary of Commerce Rebecca Blank (86), Asst. Attorney General Thomas Perez (83) and Penny Pritzker (76) -- Obama's nominee for Commerce Secretary -- have the most publicly known White House visits.Incredible. And what does Shulman say about the topics that were discussed at those meetings?"Um, the Easter Egg Roll with my kids," Shulman replied. "Questions about the administrability of tax policy they were thinking of; our budget; us helping the Department of Education streamline application processes for financial aid."How many dozens of visits did Shulman have after he found out about the IRS targeting of conservative groups?"Is it really believable that someone who had a Wall Street career before coming to Washington five years ago was so politically naïve that he didn't see the potential for scandal in that information and give the White House a heads-up?" Commentary's John Steele Gordon wondered Tuesday.If you were the head of an agency that was doing something you know your boss would approve of - if only in private - wouldn't you brag about it to him and get a good chuckle about the discomfort visited upon your boss's political enemies?Give Shulman immunity and let him tell a congressional committee what he told the president about the IRS scandal - and when he told him.Bush Fault! In 1998 Bush Appointed IRS Commissioner Shulman Who Is a Partisan Democrat HackFederal Election Commission records show that former IRS commissioner Douglas Shulman, on whose watch the agency’s targeting of conservative groups began, is a donor to the Democratic party. Shulman made a $500 donation to the Democratic National Committee in October 2004, when George W. Bush was campaigning for reelection against then–Massachusetts senator John Kerry. At the time, Shulman was serving as executive vice president of the National Association of Securities Dealers, a private regulatory agency that monitors Wall Street transactions. In 2008, Bush appointed Shulman to lead the IRS, serving under then treasury secretary Hank Paulson. According to the Treasury Department inspector general’s Continued >>Shulman’s Wife Works for Liberal Group "Public Campaign" Fighting Open Campaign SpendingFormer Internal Revenue Service commissioner Douglas H. Shulman, a frequent White House guest during the period when the IRS was targeting conservative nonprofits, is married to the senior program advisor for Public Campaign, an “organization dedicated to sweeping campaign reform that aims to dramatically reduce the role of big special interest money in American politics.” Continued >>

Scandals Be Damned! Ambitious Obama Is 'Movin' On Up' to SecGen of the United Nations in 2016South Korea'sBan Ki-moon'stwo terms will end December 31, 2016 — leaving Obama with 10 months to angle for the SecGen position. And maybe with a little luck or fraud Obama will become the first Supreme Ruler of the New Global Union.

By James Lewis-- Washington rumor has it that Obama wants to be U.N. Secretary General.There are several reasons that make that likely, and if it's true, it throws new light on a lot of Obama's oddities -- including his Royalty Bows, his Apology Tours, his Muslim Sellout, and the Benghazi Cover-Up.But first -- why would Obama be planning to become the chief of the U.N. before he has even finished his second term?

(1) OBAMA'S UNBOUNDED EGOIn three and a half years, Obama will be out of a job. He is 50 now and wants to soar to greater heights, because that's what matters more than anything else in his life.What's better to Obama's Napoleonic self than being U.N. Sec Gen? He is a man who wants to be worshiped by the world, and the path to that goal is clear. It is also an opportunity to carry out his internationalist and pro-Muslim convictions.Personalities like his need the excitement of taking big risks for big gains. Obama's slogan "the audacity of hope" comes from Napoleon's general, who described his war strategy as "Audacity, audacity, always audacity!" Alinsky's Rules advise: "Always act outside of the experience of the enemy." It now looks like Obama has never won a single clean election, because he has always violated the rules. He always gambles, and as long as his opponents play by the rules, he wins.Mitt Romney is a good and decent man, and IRS intimidation of political enemies is just not his way. Knowing that, the Obama campaign violated the rules deliberately, cynically, and with malice aforethought. It worked.

(2) OBAMA'S INTERNATIONALIST IDEOLOGYThe Communist anthem is The Internationale. When Obama gave his big speech in Berlin even before the first inauguration, his first words were "Citizens of the world!" That was meant as Marxist symbolism. All the leftists in the world cheered themselves hoarse.Berlin was Marx's city, the capital of the Prussian Empire that was the model for the Communist Worker's Paradise, to be guided by the new Prussian Junkers, the Communist Party. "Citizens of the world!" was an echo of "Workers of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your chains!" The American media didn't bother to tell us that, but they knew. They knew.Obama constantly pulls stunts with obvious Marxist overtones. His inner circle laughs at his audacity, and he likes to clown it up for Valerie Jarrett, Michelle, Ayers, and Axelrod.Obama is a trickster, power-hungry, insatiable, and sociopathic. His enemy is us, or what Jeremiah Wright would call "middleclassness," the values that most of us try to live by.As a European Socialist, Obama does not believe in the U.S. Constitution. His appointees have no conscience about violating the Constitution, as is obvious from today's news about fundamental IRS violations, fundamental invasion of news reporters' privileges under the First Amendment, and fundamental violations of the ethics of combat commanders -- leaving soldiers under fire to the tender mercies of a vicious enemy.Obama is audacity man -- violating decent values is his specialty. Bill and Hillary found that out when he played the race card against them at the 2008 Democratic Convention. Democrats always play the race card, but never against each other. In 2008, Obama violated that rule, and he got away with it.

(3) BUTT-KISSING TYRANTSIf Obama wants to run for U.N. SecGen after 2016, he needs two things: a U.S. nomination by a Democratic president and a majority vote in the U.N. General Assembly.Let's say Hillary gets elected in 2016, as Democrats now are hoping. She nominates Obama to be U.N. SecGen, to rousing cheers from the New York Times and Washington Post, the U.K. Guardian, and Workers' World. Now Obama needs a majority of U.N. General Assembly votes.By butt-kissing every throwback tyrant in sight, Obama is buying U.N. votes for himself. Obama's public bows to throwbacks like Saudi's King Abdullah and the emperor of Japan are not just another weird thing about this guy. They are strategic, with the purpose of lining up support for the future.There are 57 Muslim states. (Remember Obama's slip of the tongue when he talked about "all 57 states"? He wasn't thinking about Heinz 57 flavors. He was thinking about Muslim states.)Europe is the home of imperialist socialism. The European Union is the successor to the Soviet Union, run by an appointed political machine just like the USSR. Obama is a EuroSoc, and he will get enthusiastic support from there.South America will vote for him, because he is actively supporting leftist regimes below the border. Obama's recent trip to Mexico was full of bowing and scraping to Mexico's tender feelings about losing Texas and California in the 19th century. Blowing open the border is just another favor Obama is doing for Latin America.If you combine his unbounded ego with his penchant for audacious trickery, it becomes clear why Obama would want to be U.N. Secretary General. To U.N.-worshipers, the SecGen is the basis for a world presidency. Even if it remains a weak position, it could be a wonderful bully pulpit for Obama's endless speech habit. It would crown Obama's life achievements and allow him to crow over the United States with its old-fashioned constitution designed to limit the powers of such as The Trickster.President Obama could have used the Benghazi attack on 9/11 last year to look like the commander in chief, a role he loves to play. He could have allowed Air Force jets to strafe and bomb the gaggle of Ansar al Shari'a gunmen who overran the compound and killed what are now admitted to be six Americans, including Ambassador Stevens.

■ BENGHAZI: This might have been Obama's Heroic Capture of bin Laden —Part 2.When Obama skips a chance to boast and strut on the stage just before an election, we have to wonder why. He is not usually shy about putting himself in the limelight. Michael Barone and Charles Krauthammer believe that Benghazi was covered up because Obama and Hillary were afraid to admit that al-Qaeda wasn't dead -- that AQ is very much alive, and dangerous as a snake.On 9/11 last year, there were not one, but two simultaneous assaults on American targets: the Cairo Embassy and the Benghazi compound. The front pages that day showed the black AQ flag flying over a burned part of the U.S. Embassy. Double-simultaneous assaults are an al-Qaeda signature, as we know from 9/11/01, when the Pentagon was assaulted simultaneously with the Twin Towers. Double-bomb attacks spell AL-QAEDA.Everybody in the Muslim world understood that on the eleventh anniversary of 9/11/01, AQ was telling the world it could strike us at any place and time. Bin Laden may be dead, but jihad keeps marchin' on.Benghazi was a secret CIA operation to smuggle arms from Libya to the "Free Syrian Army," consisting of radical Islamists. Stevens was at the arms compound in Benghazi to direct a large arms shipment. He was the Libya expert who helped to overthrow Gaddafi in the first place. Now he was shipping Gaddafi's armaments to overthrow Bashir Assad in Syria.The United States was apparently acting in collusion with radical Muslim factions, probably including al-Qaeda in the Maghreb (the Mediterranean coast of North Africa). We know that Stevens even hired another jihadist faction to guard the CIA compound. Early Benghazi reports showed that they magically disappeared on the day of the attack, as did the Libyan police. Our loyal Libyan allies.Obama was therefore directly colluding with al-Qaeda, the enemy that destroyed the Twin Towers on 9/11/01. AQ is a big part of the "Free" Syrian Army that is trying to destroy Assad, because Assad is a Shi'ite who runs a secular Baathist regime. One of our friendly radical Islamist groups, Ansar al Shari'a, simply decided to send a bloody message to America that day by killing Stevens and burning the annex.The strategic purpose of the "Free Syrian Army" is to cut the Shi'ite Crescent running from Iran through Syria to Lebanon.We are involved in a proxy war between Iran and the Sunni Arabs. We are now supporting the Sunni maniacs against Iran's maniacs. That is what Benghazi was about.One can make a case for pitting Sunnis against Shi'ites. But Obama knows perfectly well that after Assad, Syria will be run by another set of murderous fanatics. Collusion with radical Muslims is standard in this administration. That is completely, profoundly cynical, or it is simply aiding the enemy.There are many reasons for that collusion, but protecting the United States is not one of them. The policy of appeasement and treachery protects radical Islam and endangers the West. However, if Obama wants to be SecGen of the United Nations in four years, there is an extra reason to buy votes in the Middle East.None of this should ever become public knowledge, as far as Obama and Hillary are concerned. Benghazi therefore had to be covered up at any price. With Obama, personal ambition and political moves always go together. Conservatives, beware.

Who's the Crook? Barack Milhous Obama or Richard Milhous Obama. Confused? . . . Both!
By Rick Jensen -- The cover-up is worse than the crime. The crime is so heinous it requires a cover-up.Now, heads are rolling as President Obama throws more supporters under a bus convoy.The first was a fake, as Obama grandly displayed the “forced resignation” of acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller. Since he was already going to retire, the timing worked well, unless any reporters found out.They did.Within hours, the nation learned that Mr. Miller had already planned his June resignation well in advance of any public controversy. Two low level employees whose crime is reportedly following orders have been allegedly reprimanded in some quiet manner.Then Joseph Grant, commissioner of the agency’s tax exempt and government entities division, announced he will retire on June 3. As part of his duties, Grant oversaw the IRS division that illegally targeted tea party groups for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. Grant was only there for a few days. His predecessor escaped to run the Obamacare IRS office, where she’ll use her skills to protect the privacy of all Americans as she did with the dissident groups named “Tea Party,” “Patriot” and “taught the Constitution.”The next one is former IRS Tax Exempt Unit Chief Lois Lerner, infamously in charge of the unit that illegally targeted conservative non-profit applicants.She has chosen to “plead the fifth” at Congressional hearings investigating the depth and breadth of this administration’s use of the I.R.S. as a political weapon of harassment and intimidation.Lerner joins such notables as convicted Republican political felon Jack Abramoff, mobster Joe Bonanno, former Clinton crony Webb Hubbell, psychic fraudster Miss Cleo and Soviet spy Ethel Rosenberg in the rogues gallery of those who “take the fifth” for fear that telling the truth would cause each person to incriminate themselves.Stunningly, there are Democrats still defending the Nixonian tactic of terrorizing innocent Americans with the threat of debilitating their lives with the most feared agency in the U.S. Government, the IRS.Donna Brazile, a powerful Democratic Party operative you’ve likely seen on TV, wrote an amazingly puerile attempt to deflect attention from two of the current Obama administration scandals. She writes, “… two ‘scandals’ — the IRS tax-exempt inquiries and the Department of Justice’s tapping of reporters’ phones — have become lynch parties. And the congressional investigation of Benghazi may become a scandal in itself.”Will Americans believe the new Administration slogan that the President isn’t a crook, he’s just incompetent? Or will there be traction to the epithet, “Richard Milhous Obama?”*Continued >>

ABUSE OF POWER: The Dots Already Lead to Obama In the IRS Scandal!Investor´s Business Daily Editorial: Any scandal investigation that expects a "Eureka!" moment, a White House e-mail, or Oval Office smoking gun will be misguided. In fact, the dots are already connected directly to the president.Barack Obama is not foolish enough to have a tape recording system hidden in his desk. And his administration staff are not careless enough to send one another incriminating e-mails.If the president was behind the IRS unlawfully harassing conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, we can be sure the communications were all sotto voce and in persona, like any good Chicago political operator.But as the Wall Street Journal's Kimberly Strassel reminds us in her column "Conservatives Became Targets in 2008," Obama's campaign was demanding the Justice Department criminally prosecute conservative groups with 501(c)4 tax-exempt status. Then, last year, President Obama's re-election campaign "targeted private citizens who had donated to Romney groups."The chief operative? Longtime Democratic Party lawyer Robert Bauer, general counsel for Obama's presidential campaigns, White House general counsel during Obama's first term, Democratic National Committee general counsel, and the Democrats' counsel in President Bill Clinton's Senate impeachment trial. And, not least, husband of Democratic political strategist Anita Dunn (In 2009 speech she declared Mao Tse Tung her "favorite philosopher"), White House communications director in Obama's first term, and now an MSNBC contributor.Bauer is author of "Soft Money, Hard Law: A Guide to the New Campaign Finance Law," and serves on the American Bar Association's Advisory Commission on Election Law.When you've got a legal Rottweiler like Bauer setting the cutthroat example to one and all within the Obama administration regarding the wishes of the president, does anyone really think he — or others in the administration — needed marching orders when it comes to the government's attitude toward opponents of Obama's ideology who were seeking tax-exempt status?Does anyone really think Obama had to tell Bauer — or anyone else in the administration — if it was OK to, as John Dean once indelicately put it, "use the available federal machinery to screw our political enemies"?The climate of hate for Obama's political enemies was well established among those around him even before he became president.It's clear the president, without having to utter a word, approved all along the idea of going after them.

White House Counsel Robert Bauer — Architect of IRS Abuse?Bauer is my name — vote fraud is my game!By J. Christian Adams -- When the FBI finally fires up its criminal investigation of the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups, there is one person the special agent in charge better be sure to interview — former White House Counsel Robert Bauer. The FBI may discover the whole IRS mess leads through the land of campaign finance “reform” and an obsession with speech regulation, an obsession shared by Bauer.Any criminal investigation identifies for further scrutiny those with motive, opportunity, and means, and Bauer deserves no quarter from FBI investigators on those three counts.

The CrimesWithout any doubt, crimes were committed by IRS employees, not the least of which was the fact that IRS employees disclosed confidential information from IRS forms to the political enemies of the groups seeking tax-exempt status.For example, Cindy Thomas, the Cincinnati unit manager for exempt organizations at the IRS, illegally released the tax applications of nine separate conservative organizations to the left-wing group ProPublica. The IRS claims that Thomas’ illegal release of private tax information was an “accident,” but the excuse is absurd.Thomas wasn’t the only IRS employee leaking the tax information of conservative groups to their enemies. Pro-marriage groups found their confidential information in the hands of gay marriage advocacy organizations.The FBI can start by finding out whether Thomas and her fellow IRS travelers in fact released the private information. If the FBI says Thomas cannot be prosecuted because she claims it was an accident, then Congress needs to step in and impose mandatory minimum prison sentences for any IRS employee that releases private information, accidental or not.The bigger question the FBI must get to the bottom of is who hatched the policy of targeting Tea Party groups that led to these crimes? For that they should turn back to Robert Bauer.

The MotiveRobert Bauer had the motive to direct IRS policy against Tea Party groups. He is a longtime opponent of First Amendment freedoms and an advocate of government-speech regulation. He also can’t stand the work the Tea Party is conducting to monitor and eradicate voter fraud, work the Republican Party and national campaigns have utterly failed to perform.During the 2008 election, while representing the Obama campaign, Bauer sent a threatening letter to the Justice Department demanding criminal investigations of people who had the audacity to speak about voter fraud. Bauer even singled out Sarah Palin in the letter. Anyone who “developed or disseminated” information about voter fraud, to Bauer, deserved the heavy boot of a criminal investigation. Read the letter; it reveals a nasty, thuggish, and lawless attitude toward political opposition.To Bauer, those merely speaking about voter fraud were worthy of criminal investigation. Sound familiar?Hindsight reveals why Bauer was so agitated. Two Obama campaign staffers, Amy Little and Yolanda Hippensteele, later pleaded guilty to voter fraud. We also know, courtesy of John Fund and Hans von Spakovsky, that a Minnesota election for U.S. Senate was decided by voter fraud in 2008. And who can forget Melowese Richardson, the Obama activist and poll official in Ohio who said on camera that she voted multiple times for President Obama in 2008? I could go on and on with multiple examples of voter fraud from 2008 where candidate Obama was the beneficiary.No wonder Bauer was so anxious back in 2008 to shut everyone up.Fast forward to 2012. Again, Mr. Bauer was up to his old tricks in his second stint as Obama campaign counsel, this time targeting Tea Party groups fighting for election integrity. Bauer and his campaign hench-lawyers called state election officials, seeking to unleash state criminal investigations of Tea Party groups working for election integrity. I have spoken with state election officials in at least three states which describe Obama campaign efforts to prompt state officials to target Tea Party groups.I’m happy to share with the FBI special agents the names of those states if Mr. Bauer won’t.Bauer even published this memo, specifically targeting True the Vote with outright lies so egregious he should be ashamed of himself.After the Obama campaign voter fraud of 2008, in 2012 Bauer was anxious to remove election integrity groups from the polls as observers. If the IRS couldn’t slow the Tea Party watchdogs down, Bauer threatened them in other ways.If the FBI special agents interview Mr. Bauer, it won’t be hard to conclude he had the motive to launch the Tea Party shakedown.

The MeansPresident Obama’s campaign counsel certainly had the motive to target the Tea Party, but did Bauer have the means as campaign counsel? Remember, Bauer served as White House counsel from November 2009 to June 2011, right during the time this IRS shakedown was hatched.Anybody who has worked in the White House will tell you that the White House counsel enjoys a position of power like few others. They can make things happen with a phone call. One former West Wing staffer told me that “any department’s staff who received directions from Bauer would think they were getting directions from the president. The White House counsel has the power to make policy with a phone call.”Something important happened two months after Bauer became White House counsel — the Supreme Court decided Citizens United vs. FEC, a decision that caused the left to go batty. They feared the decision might cost them the White House. President Obama boorishly (and inaccurately) addressed the decision in the 2010 State of the Union.The FBI special agents should ask Bauer some simple questions: With whom did you speak at the IRS about conservative and Tea Party groups post-Citizens United? Did you direct anyone on your staff to do the same? Did you hear about anyone speaking with the IRS about Tea Party groups? Who hatched the IRS harassment, which started on your watch? Did you meet with Doug Shulman any of the 157 times he visited the White House, and did you discuss exempt status of conservative groups?

The OpportunityThe FBI agents might ask Bauer why a parade of Citizens United-obsessed speech-regulation zealots visited the West Wing just before the Tea Party shakedown went into effect.Tova Wang, of the leftist Soros-funded group Demos, visited the White House and met with Bauer’s staff on June 2, 2010. In fact she hovered around the White House on multiple occasions during the critical time period the IRS policy was being crafted.Perhaps she was there for the Easter Egg roll. Perhaps not. Either way, the FBI can ask.Notorious speech-regulation advocate Richard Hasen also visited the White House and met with White House Counsel Robert Bauer on June 24, 2010. (See this
absurd screed at Slate saying the post-Citizens United world is “worse than Watergate.” Freedom just rubs some people the wrong way.)Perhaps Hasen was at the White House with Bauer to watch the longest match in Wimbledon history which occurred that day.Perhaps not, especially since he previously met with Nicholas Colvin in the White House Counsel’s office on June 21 and 23. Again, the FBI can find out if they ask.Bauer or his staff met with a number of other ivory tower academics and activists interested in controlling free political speech through the spring of 2010. These also include the noisy reformer Meredith McGehee.We don’t yet know who engineered the illegal, criminal, and disgusting IRS shakedown of Tea Party and conservative groups. But one thing is certain: Robert Bauer had the motive, the opportunity, and the means to do it. The good folks at the FBI are now busy preparing names of people to interview. They better not leave Mr. Bauer off the list, or his stream of visitors.The parties better not coordinate stories ahead of time. These days, I hear the Justice Department has adopted an aggressive approach to email and phone records, at least for Fox News.Tyrant Obama Won't Let Up! Appoints 'Vote Fraud Perpetuator' Robert Bauer to Co-Lead Voter CommissionBy Laurel Conrad -- The co-chair President Barack Obama appointed Tuesday to help lead the Presidential Commission on Election Administration, Robert F. Bauer, said during the 2012 election that voter ID laws are a Republican tactic to suppress lawful votes.During the 2012 election, the Obama team tapped Bauer to lead the legal teams for the campaign and the Democratic National Committee. Among his initiatives: fighting voter ID laws enacted by a number of states in an effort to combat voter fraud. During his time as the team’s organizer, Bauer told the Associated Press that he believes that the GOP is enlisting these new laws to impede the right to vote.“The Republican Party and their allies have mapped out their vote suppression campaign as a response to our success in 2008 with grass-roots organization and successful turnout,” Bauer said. “This is their response to defeat: changing the rules of participation so that fewer participate.” Before his work on the campaign, Bauer served as Obama’s general consul from 2009 to 2011. The White House announced the appointment of ten individuals to the commission, which was formed “to identify non-partisan ways to shorten lines at polling places, promote the efficient conduct of elections, and provide better access to the polls for all voters.” Leading the commission alongside Bauer is Co-Chairman Benjamin L. Ginsberg.Bauer’s co-chairman, Ginsberg, is the former consul to Republicans George W. Bush and Mitt Romney. His legal advice helped Bush win the Supreme Court case Florida decision that sent him to the White House. It is unclear exactly how much power the commission will have to implement these voting reforms.

OBAMAGATE: Voters Stupidly Voted For Obama Twice and Got 'Saul Alinsky' — And America's Paying A Helluva Price!Level of Corruption is So High Right Now It's LikeSaul is Running the White House From the Grave!By Rachel Alexander -- With three full-blown scandals currently surrounding the Obama administration, there are too many “-gates” to name just one. There is the cover-up of the fatal Benghazi terrorist attack, the IRS targeting conservatives, and the Justice Department spying on members of the press. The level of corruption is so high right now it is like Saul Alinsky is running the White House.Alinsky, the radical activist who wrote "Rules for Radicals", which hededicated to Satan, taught the radical left to use dishonest tactics in order to achieve their agenda – “by any means necessary.” He advocated lying and harassing those with opposing viewpoints.Don't forget about me, my Wellesley thesis was on Saul.(click for Hillary pic enlargement)

Both Obama and Hillary Clintonwere deeply influenced by Saul Alinsky. Alinsky biographer Sanford Howitt has said Obama's 2008 election campaign was influenced by Alinsky, and that Obama followed in his footsteps as a community organizer.Alinsky's son David wrote in an article that appeared in the Boston Globe, “Obama learned his lesson well. I am proud to see that my father’s model for organizing is being applied successfully beyond local community organizing to affect the Democratic campaign in 2008. It is a fine tribute to Saul Alinsky as we his approach his 100th birthday.” Obama revealed a few years ago that his years training as a community organizer at Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation, “gave him the best education of his life.” He has quoted Alinsky in speeches.Four Americans died during the Benghazi attacks, and it is now coming out that the White House knew the embassy needed more security, and knew terrorists were targeting it, but did nothing. Three whistleblowers have come forward, in spite of being threatened with demotions, to tell Congress that the administration knew at the time of U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice's public comments that the Benghazi terrorist attack was connected to terrorists, and they in fact deleted out those references in her talking points, revising them 12 times. One of the whistleblowers, Gregory Hicks, who was the deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Libya during 2012, is a Democrat, not exactly someone who has anything to gain for partisan reasons.A second scandal is the revelation that the IRS targeted conservative groups with "Tea Party," "patriot," “We the People,” or “Take Back the Country” in their names, and "nonprofit groups that criticized the government and sought to educate Americans about the U.S. Constitution.” Pro-life organizations and generous contributors to Mitt Romney's presidential campaign were also targeted. 75 applications for 501(c)(4) status, almost all from conservative and tea party groups, were set aside for detailed review and required to provide unusual information, like donor lists. Conservative writer Peggy Noonan notes some of the overreaching, prying questions that were asked: What are you thinking about? Did you ever think of running for office? Do you ever contact political figures? What are you reading? One Tea Party organization responded by sending the IRS a copy of the U.S. Constitution.Those targeted included James Dobson, the well-known Christian author and radio host who has been vocal in his criticism of Obama. Billy Graham, the world-renowned evangelist who is now 94 years old, was audited after he endorsed Mitt Romney. On top of that, the IRS released confidential information about the conservative groups to the George Soros funded liberal media outlet ProPublica.The head of the IRS division that targeted conservative groups, Sarah Hall Ingram, received more than $100,000 in bonuses between 2009 and 2012, most of it during the time her office was targeting conservatives.Although Obama has denounced the IRS targeting, forcing the resignation of acting IRS Commissioner Steven Miller and a top deputy six days after the scandal broke, it is hard to believe that he was not involved with it. Obama believes Saul Alinsky tactics are brilliant. If you think that Obama was not involved with the targeting of conservative groups, I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.The third scandal that has arisen is the discovery that the Justice Department conducted a broad search of telephone records from the Associated Press, in search of a government employee who leaked information to the press about the CIA’s disruption of a Yemen-based terrorism plot. Unlike previous Justice Department policy, the government did not bother giving the press a chance to negotiate or dispute the subpoenas in advance.Attorney General Eric Holder insisted that it was one of the most serious leaks he had ever seen, and that is why regular procedures were not followed. But it is coming out that the investigation was done in response to Republicans accusing the administration of purposely leaking defense information to the press in order to make Obama look better, and it was the seventh time the administration had undergone an investigation like this. Even the liberal Washington Post editorialized that this was six investigations too many, especially considering the cost. The Justice Department essentially disregarded the First Amendment in order to fight with Republicans, not due to a security threat.Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) calls the IRS problem worse than Watergate. Conservative columnist Peggy Noonan believes it is the biggest scandal since Watergate. Sen. James Inhofe is suggesting impeachment. Mike Huckabee is predicting Obama may not serve out his full term. The mainstream liberal media is actually upset about two of the scandals. The Washington Post editorialized that Benghazi is nothing, whereas the other two scandals are serious.Republicans must be careful how they go about investigating the scandals, or it could backfire on them. Political columnist Chris Adamo warns, “Americans should remember how successfully Hillary Clinton was able to generate a 'scandal overload' and by constantly changing the subject, managed to protect the thoroughly compromised administration of her husband, Bill Clinton, from any repercussions for his malfeasance and innumerable violations of the law.”Washington Times columnist Eric Golub advises Republicans not to try and impeach Obama. He warns, “The left needed and tolerated the Clintons, but they worship Barack Obama...As a supporter of the 1998 impeachment and a believer in the rule of law, there comes a time to admit that many leftists are above the law.” Golub believes that eventually the American public will become tired of Obama, similar to “Clinton fatigue,” which ruined Al Gore's chances of winning the presidency.Conservative-leaning reporter Major Garrett, who left Fox News for CBS, provides this candid analysis, "The White House believes its greatest ally in all these scandals are Republicans that overreach and they will try to exploit that to the maximum whenever they can."How serious are the scandals, is Obama really complicit in some of the most corrupt actions ever undertaken by a president? Look at one of the tactics recommended by his mentor Saul Alinsky. Alinsky describes in Rules for Radicals how he organized a union protest on July 14th. After the organizers had chosen the date – selected because it was the one day the labor unions had no scheduled meetings – Alinsky was asked by a reporter if they had picked that date because it was Bastille Day. Caught by surprise, but realizing he had lucked into a windfall, Alinsky answered, "Not at all. It is fitting that we do so and that's why we did it." He then informed all the speakers to mention Bastille Day in their speeches. Alinsky proudly provides this to the world as an example of justifying lying in order to achieve your means.We now have pretty overwhelming evidence that Obama is part of serious wrongdoing. But will he ever be held accountable, or have Alinsky's methods become the law?

When the law no longer protects you from the corrupt, but protects the corrupt from you —you know your nation is doomed. ~ Ayn Rand

'Holder the Corrupt' OK'd Search Warrant for FOX Reporter James Rosen's Private Emails By Michael Isikoff -- Attorney General Eric Holder signed off on a controversial search warrant that identified Fox News reporter James Rosen as a “possible co-conspirator” in violations of the Espionage Act and authorized seizure of his private emails, a law enforcement official told NBC News on Thursday.The disclosure of the attorney general’s role came as President Barack Obama, in a major speech on his counterterrorism policy, said Holder had agreed to review Justice Department guidelines governing investigations that involve journalists."I am troubled by the possibility that leak investigations may chill the investigative journalism that holds government accountable," Obama said. "Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs."Rosen, who has not been charged in the case, was nonetheless the target of a search warrant that enabled Justice Department investigators to secretly seize his private emails after an FBI agent said he had "asked, solicited and encouraged … (a source) to disclose sensitive United States internal documents and intelligence information."Obama's comments follow a firestorm of criticism that has erupted over disclosures that in separate investigations of leaks of classified information, the Justice Department had obtained private emails that Rosen exchanged with a source and the phone records of Associated Press reporters. Continued >>BREAKING: DOJ Confirms 'Holder the Corrupt' Personally "Vetted" James Rosen WarrantBy Guy Benson -- A damaging Friday news dump before a holiday weekend? Who could have seen that coming? Dump away, Justice Department:Fox News reporter whose report on North Korea prompted a leak
investigation. In a statement emailed to Reuters, the department said the search warrant for the reporter's email account followed all laws and policies and won the independent approval of a federal magistrate judge.We're apparently supposed to feel better about everything because the DOJ "followed all laws and policies" and secured their warrant from a judge. That would be the same warrant that designated journalist James Rosen as a potential "criminal co-conspirator" in order to keep it secret. Details about the breadth of the investigation continue to emerge. Via The New Yorker's Ryan Lizza, another eye-opening scoop:The Obama Administration fought to keep a search warrant for James Rosen’s private e-mail account secret, arguing to a federal judge that the government might need to monitor the account for a lengthy period of time...Continued >>Obama Orders 'Holder the Corrupt' to Investigate 'Holder the Corrupt' Regarding LeaksBy Jonathan Karl -- President Obama is a little uneasy with the way journalists have been dragged into the Justice Department’s aggressive pursuit of national security leak investigations. In fact, he has ordered Attorney General Eric Holder to conduct a 45-day review of the department’s guidelines on the issue.That bit of news was buried in the middle of the president’s hourlong speech today at National Defense University.“Journalists should not be at legal risk for doing their jobs,” President Obama said. “Our focus must be on those who break the law.”And then the news: “I have raised these issues with the attorney general, who shares my concern. So he has agreed to review existing Department of Justice guidelines governing investigations that involve reporters, and will convene a group of media organizations to hear their concerns as part of that review. And I have directed the attorney general to report back to me by July 12th.” Continued >>

Benghazi Investigation Deepens: Lawmakers Seek Interviews of 13 Officials Involved By Stephen F. Hayes -- As the investigation into the Obama administration’s handling of the attacks on U.S. facilities in Benghazi intensifies, lawmakers on Capitol Hill are seeking to conduct transcribed interviews with thirteen top State Department officials in the coming weeks in order to learn more.Those named in the letter include a wide range of current and former State Department personnel, from senior advisers to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to mid-level career officials with responsibility for diplomatic security.Among those officials: Jacob Sullivan, then deputy chief of staff and director of policy planning (and currently national security adviser to Vice President Joe Biden); Victoria Nuland, then State Department spokesman; Raymond Maxwell, deputy assistant secretary of state for near east affairs; Patrick Kennedy, undersecretary of state for management; and Eric Boswell, former assistant secretary of state for diplomatic security.In a letter dated May 17, 2013, Representative Darrell Issa, chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, wrote to Secretary of State John Kerry to request formally that Kerry make these current and former State Department employees available. Continued >>

CBS' Intrepid Reporter Sharyl Attkisson Says Her Computers Have Been Compromised Sharyl Attkisson, the Emmy-award winning CBS News investigative reporter, says that her personal and work computers have been compromised and are under investigation. "I can confirm that an intrusion of my computers has been under some investigation on my end for some months but I'm not prepared to make an allegation against a specific entity today as I've been patient and methodical about this matter," Attkisson said on Tuesday. "I need to check with my attorney and CBS to get their recommendations on info we make public."

In an earlier interview with WPHT Philadelphia, Attkisson said that though she did not know the full details of the intrustion, "there could be some relationship between these things and what's happened to James Rosen," the Fox News reporter who became the subject of a Justice Dept. investigation after reporting on CIA intelligence about North Korea in 2009.On Sunday, The Washington Post reported that the Justice Dept. had searched Rosen's personal e-mails and tracked his visits to the State Dept. The court affadavit described Rosen as “at the very least, either as an aider, abettor and/or co-conspirator" of his government source, presumably because he had solicited classified information from that source -- an argument that has been heavily criticized by other journalists.Attkisson told WPHT that irregular activity on her computer was first identified in Feb. 2011, when she was reporting on the Fast and Furious gun-walking scandal and on the Obama administration's green energy spending, which she said "the administration was very sensitive about." Attkisson has also been apersistent investigatorof the events surrounding last year's attack in Benghazi, and its aftermath.UPDATE: The Justice Dept. now tells POLITICO that it is not responsible for the irregular activity: “To our knowledge, the Justice Department has never ‘compromised’ Ms. Atkisson’s computers, or otherwise sought any information from or concerning any telephone, computer, or other media device she may own or use," Dean Boyd, a Justice Dept. spokesperson, told POLITICO on Tuesday night.

Obama's Top Witch Lois Lerner Invokes Fifth Amendment Regarding Tea Party Intimidation“I have not done anything wrong,” she said. “I have not broken any laws, I have not violated any IRS laws or regulations and I have not given any false information to this or any other committee.”

Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.) was applauded at a congressional hearing Wednesday, after he objected to Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner pleading the Fifth Amendment and refusing to testify before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.After invoking her right to avoid self-incrimination, Lerner, the head of the tax-exempt division of the IRS, was dismissed from the hearing, which is examining the agency’s inappropriate targeting of conservative groups.After giving a brief opening statement -- in which she said she did nothing wrong -- then refusing to answer any questions, Lerner was dismissed by Committee Chairman Darryl Issa (R-Calif.), who said he had “no choice” but to respect her constitutional right. Gowdy objected.Documents Confirm: The Lovely Lois Lerner Directly Participated In Persecution of Tea Party Groups
By Guy Benson -- Not to fear, America — she's been placed on "administrative leave," a terribly severe form of discipline that's effectively tantamount to paid vacation. At this week's House Oversight Committee hearing, Lerner (sort of) invoked her fifth amendment rights and refused to answer any questions.She claimed she's done "nothing wrong," which explains why she's reportedly refusing to resign. Question, though: Might Lerner be a relatively innocent patsy in all of this (a la the Benghazi scapegoat)? Er, probably not, via National Review:A series of letters suggests that senior IRS official Lois Lerner was directly involved in the agency’s targeting of conservative groups as recently as April 2012, more than nine months after she first learned of the activity.Lerner, the director of the IRS exempt organizations office in Washington, D.C., signed cover letters to 15 conservative organizations currently represented by the American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ) between in March and April of 2012. Continued >>BOMBSHELL: Lois Lerner Sued Christian Coalition In Largest FEC Action in History — Then Was Promoted to IRS Where She Targeted ConservativesUnder the direction of Lois Lerner, the Federal Election Commission sued the Christian Coalition in the 1990s. She harassed the Christian Coalition for three election cycles. She lost her case. Lerner even asked one conservative during the case if Pat Robertson prayed over him. (Sound familiar?)These actions landed her at the IRS where she used the same tactics against conservatives and Christians – only on a much larger scale. 500 conservative and Christian groups were illegally targeted by the Obama IRS during her tenure. For twenty-seven months the Obama IRS refused to approve any Tea Party applications for tax-exempt status. At the same time the Obama IRS approved dozens of progressive applications.

● More on Lerner's History of Harassment from the Weekly StandardBy Mark Hemingway -- Perhaps no other IRS official is more intimately associated with the tax agency's growing scandal than Lois Lerner, director of the IRS’s Exempt Organizations Division. Since admitting the IRS harassed hundreds of conservative and Tea Party groups for over two years, Lerner has been criticized for a number of untruths — including the revelation that she apparently lied about planting a question at an American Bar Association conference where she first publicly acknowledged IRS misconduct.Still, Lerner has her defenders in the government and the media. Shortly after the scandal broke, The Daily Beast published an article headlined "IRS Scandal’s Central Figure, Lois Lerner, Described as ‘Apolitical.'" Insisting Lerner, and the IRS more broadly, were not not politically motivated has been a central contention of those trying to minimize the impact of the scandal.The trouble with this defense is that, prior to joining the IRS, Lerner's tenure as head of the Enforcement Office at the Federal Election Commission (FEC) was marked by what appears to be politically motivated harassment of conservative groups.Lerner was appointed head of the FEC's enforcement division in 1986 and stayed in that position until 2001. In the late 1990s, the FEC launched an onerous investigation of the Christian Coalition, ultimately costing the organization hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless hours in lost work. The investigation was notable because the FEC alleged that the Christian Coalition was coordinating issue advocacy expenditures with a number of candidates for office. Aside from lacking proof this was happening, it was an open question whether the FEC had the authority to bring these charges.James Bopp Jr., who was lead counsel for the Christian Coalition at the time, tells THE WEEKLY STANDARD the Christian Coalition investigation was egregious and uncalled for. "We felt we were being singled out, because when you handle a case with 81 depositions you have a pretty good argument you're getting special treatment. Eighty-one depositions! Eighty-one! From Ralph Reed's former part-time secretary to George H.W. Bush. It was mind blowing," he said. Continued >>

Lois Lerner’s Admission of IRS’s Inappropriate Behavior Was Pre-Planned Public DisclosureLast week, Lois Lerner, head of the tax exempt division of the Internal Revenue Service dropped a bombshell: The IRS had been applying extra scrutiny to conservative groups claiming tax exempt status.The revelation came seemingly out of the blue, in response to a question during a panel at an American Bar Association conference, leaving the audience baffled, according to reports.As it turns out, it was not a spontaneous revelation. The question, said outgoing IRS Commissioner Steven Miller in testimony before the House Ways and Means Committee Friday, was planted, as part of a prepared strategy for the IRS to release this information to the public.Under questioning from Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, Miller said it was a “prepared Q and A,” and the question, which came from tax lawyer Celia Roady had been discussed in advance as well.Later, Miller, questioned by Rep. Peter Roskam, explained that the disclosure had been made to coincide with the conclusion of the inspector general’s report. Continued >>

Broader Harassment: IRS Sought to Impose Gift Tax on Conservative "Freedom Watch" DonationsBy Carol Platt Liebau -- As this post from yesterday pointed out, it's hardly news to those who read the IRS IG report that Americans were targeted by the IRS -- not just based on membership in the "Tea Party" or "9/12" -- but based on their political sympathies generally. Last night, the Wall Street Journal reported on another example of this phenomenon. Apparently, an IRS probe of "Freedom Watch" began in (surprise!) the unit headed by Lois Lerner (still enjoying a full-pay and full-benefits vacation, courtesy of the taxpayers she harassed). According to the WSJ: In February 2010, the same month the tea-party targeting Continued >>

The Devil in Charge During the Tea Party Targeting Now Runs IRS' Obamacare Nightmare ABC News is reporting that the woman who was the head of the tax-exempt organizations division of the IRS during the time conservative groups were targeted is now director of the IRS' ObamaCare office. You can't make this stuff up.So who is Sarah Hall Ingram? Well, she was appointed as Commissioner of the Tax-Exempt and Government Entitles Division of the IRS in 2009. Before that, she was the deputy commissioner, and before that, she was Division Counsel/Associate Chief Counsel for that division. She began her career with the IRS in 1982, in the Tax Litigation Division. Continued >> ● UPDATE: IRS Tax Exemption/Obamacare Exec Got $103,390 in Bonuses; Did Obama OK Them? -- Sarah Hall Ingram, the IRS executive in charge of the tax exempt division in 2010 when it began targeting conservative Tea Party, evangelical and pro-Israel groups for harassment, got more than $100,000 in bonuses between 2009 and 2012.

Stolen Election: Obama Regime Knew and Hid IRS Scandal 5 Months Before ElectionActivating Their Voter Fraud Operation Probably Wasn't NeededIn no uncertain terms and with no hedging, The New York Times reports that the Obama administration was aware of the fact that the IRS was targeting Tea Party groups as far back as June of 2012. The Treasury Department's Inspector General confirmed that he told senior Treasury officials in June of 2012, a full five months before Election Day:The Treasury Department’s inspector general told senior Treasury officials in June 2012 he was investigating the Internal Revenue Service’s screening of politically active organizations seeking tax exemptions, disclosing for the first time on Friday that Obama administration officials were aware of the matter during the presidential campaign year.We still don’t know for sure what the President knew or when he knew it, but this does confirm that the administration was aware of the fact that Obama's political enemies were under fire by the IRS and covered that fact up during an election year.As Lisa Meyers of NBC News told "Morning Joe" today, "Imagine if we -- if you can -- what would have happened if this fact came out in September 2012, in the middle of a presidential election? The terrain would have looked very different."The first time President Obama was asked when he found out about the IRS scandal, he told the media that he learned of the news last Friday, the same way the rest of us did -- from the news media. Continued >>

All the President’s Concealers Tainted the 2012 Election . . . Ya Think Election Should Be Voided!By William A. Jacobson -- With each passing hour, it becomes more and more clear that the truth was concealed from the American public prior to the election about two major Obama administration scandals.Benghazi was very much in the news prior to the election. The concealment went to the culpability of the Obama administration in failing to heed warnings about security at the Benghazi consulate, the nature of the pre-planned al-Qaeda attack, the scrubbing of the talking points used by Susan Rice, the failure to go to the aid of Americans in trouble, and the claim that the attack was a result of a YouTube video.That concealment, which now has been exposed in part (much information still has not been released), helped Obama out on an issue which was very much a part of the campaign, and allowed Obama to rebound in the second and third presidential debates after a disastrous first debate put the election outcome in doubt.The Benghazi concealment allowed the media and the Obama campaign to get away with distractions such as whether Mitt Romney should have issued a press statement, and whether Obama’s generalized non-specific use of the term “acts of terror” constituted an admission that the Benghazi attack was terrorism. These distractions, rather than the administration’s defalcation of duty, worked to Obama’s great advantage.The other concealment went to an even more explosive issue, the deliberate and concerted targeting by the IRS of Tea Party and conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status, and leaks of information about conservative groups.The stories now are legion, and growing, of IRS stall tactics and inappropriate delving into religious and political beliefs, and the identification of persons with whom the groups interacted. No such targeting took place as to liberal and progressive groups. This targeting was known to senior IRS officials long before the election, but was kept quiet in a variety of ways (including denying such documents existed in response to a FOIA request) until after the election.That the IRS sought to break the scandal through a planted question and answer at a Bar Association event speaks volumes to the consciousness of guilt.The IRS targeting of Tea Party and conservative groups not only advantaged supporters of Obama, it kept out of the public domain a very potent issue which would have driven a massive anti-Obama turnout among Tea Party and conservative voters generally unenthused about Mitt Romney.In each of these concealments, it appears that the dirty work was done by agencies under the control of the Obama administration.

The Next Shoe? Did Holder Justice Department Also Tap House of Representatives Cloak Room Phones? That’s the revelation made by California Congressman Devin Nunes, who sits on the House Ways And Means Committee on Hugh Hewitt’s Show Wednesday night. Here’s the key part of that transcript:Hugh Hewitt: The idea that this might be a Geithner-Axelrod plan, and by that, the sort of intimation, Henry II style, will no one rid me of this turbulent priest, will no one rid me of these turbulent Tea Parties, that might have just been a hint, a shift of an eyebrow, a change in the tone of voice. That’s going to take a long time to get to. I don’t trust the Department of Justice on this. Do you, Congressman Nunes?Devin Nunes: No, I absolutely do not, especially after this wiretapping incident, essentially, of the House of Representative. I don’t think people are focusing on the right thing when they talk about going after the AP reporters. The big problem that I see is that they actually tapped right where I’m sitting right now, the Cloak Room.Continued >>

Benghazi ‘Hand-Selected’ Emails Directly Contradict White House Claims as ExpectedBy Stephen F. Hayes -- The documents, first reported by THE WEEKLY STANDARD in articles here and here, directly contradict claims by White House press secretary Jay Carney and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the revisions of those talking points were driven by the intelligence community and show heavy input from top Obama administration officials, particularly those at the State Department.The emails provide further detail about the rewriting of the talking points during a 24-hour period from midday September 14 to midday September 15. As THE WEEKLY STANDARD previously reported, a briefing from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence shows that the big changes came in three waves – internally at the CIA, after email feedback from top administration officials, and during or after a meeting of high-ranking intelligence and national security officials the following morning. Continued >>

George Soros Gave $6.1 Million to Groups Pressuring IRS to Target Conservative NonprofitsHungarian Puppet Master George Soros (aka Schwartz György)With Soros funding, anything is possible. The growing scandal where the IRS unfairly targeted politically-conservative groups can be traced back to a lobbying effort begun by George Soros-funded liberal groups in 2010, after the Supreme Court's Citizens United ruling.The talking points of these groups then bounced around a carefully created progressive "echo chamber," until they eventually made their way into established media outlets. Key IRS policy changes about how it investigated conservative groups took place soon after it received three separate letters sent by Soros-funded liberal organizations.Several Soros-funded groups including the Campaign Legal Center, Democracy 21, the Center for Public Integrity, Mother Jones and Alternet have worked to pressure the IRS to target conservative nonprofit groups. The subsequent IRS investigation flagged more than 100 tea party-related applications for higher scrutiny, including applications that included the words "Tea Party" and "patriot." Continued >>

Leftist ProPublica Group Received Confidential Docs From IRS 'Democrat Activists'The progressive-leaning investigative journalism group ProPublica says the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) office that targeted and harassed conservative tax-exempt groups during the 2012 election cycle gave the progressive group nine confidential applications of conservative groups whose tax-exempt status was pending.The commendable admission lends further evidence to the lengths the IRS went during an election cycle to silence tea party and limited government voices.ProPublica says the documents the IRS gave them were “not supposed to be made public”:The same IRS office that deliberately targeted conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status in the run-up to the 2012 election released nine pending confidential applications of conservative groups to ProPublica late last year... In response to a request for the applications for 67 different nonprofits last November, the Cincinnati office of the IRS sent ProPublica applications or documentation for 31 groups. Nine of those applications had not yet been approved—meaning they were not supposed to be made public. (We made sixof those public, after redacting their financial information, deeming that they were newsworthy.)The group says that "no unapproved applications from liberal groups were sent to ProPublica.”According to Media Research Center Vice President for Business and Culture Dan Gainor, ProPublica’s financial backers include top progressive donors:ProPublica, which recently won its second Pulitzer Prize, initially was given millions of dollars from the Sandler Foundation to “strengthen the progressive infrastructure”–“progressive” being the code word for very liberal. In 2010, it also received a two-year contribution of $125,000 each year from the Open Society Foundations. In case you wonder where that money comes from, the OSF website is www.soros.org. It is a network of more than 30 international foundations, mostly funded by Soros, who has contributed more than $8 billion to those efforts.On Friday, the House Ways and Means Committee is scheduled to hold a formal hearing on the IRS conservative targeting scandal. IRS Commissioner Steve Miller and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George are slated to testify. ● UPDATE: Here’s the Much-Anticipated IG Report on the IRS’ Political Targeting -- “Ineffective management” is to blame for the Internal Revenue Services’ political targeting of conservative groups, according to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration’s year-long investigation into the matter. The TIGTA report found that the IRS used “inappropriate criteria” to scrutinize conservative groups and allowed said criteria to remain in place for at least 18 months. ● UPDATE: Watchdog Report Describes Massive Delays as IRS Slow-Walked Tea Party Groups -- A newly obtained watchdog report described how the "inappropriate" IRS program that flagged conservative groups for extra scrutiny led to massive delays, with some organizations stuck waiting years to find out about their applications. The findings were contained in a highly anticipated and highly critical inspector general's report.

Government Obtains Wide AP Phone Records in ProbeWASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news.The records obtained by the Justice Department listed incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP.In all, the government seized those records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to AP and its journalists in April and May of 2012. The exact number of journalists who used the phone lines during that period is unknown but more than 100 journalists work in the offices whose phone records were targeted on a wide array of stories about government and other matters. ContinuedAP CEO's Gary Pruitt Letter to Eric HolderMay 13, 2013Attorney General Eric HolderDepartment of JusticeWashington, D.C.

Dear General Holder:

I am writing to object in the strongest possible terms to a massive and unprecedented intrusion by the Department of Justice into the newsgathering activities of The Associated Press.Last Friday afternoon, AP General Counsel Laura Malone received a letter from the office of United States Attorney Ronald C. Machen Jr. advising that, at some unidentified time earlier this year, the Department obtained telephone toll records for more than 20 separate telephone lines assigned to the AP and its journalists.The records that were secretly obtained cover a full two-month period in early 2012 and, at least as described in Mr. Machen’s letter, include all such records for, among other phone lines, an AP general phone number in New York City as well as AP bureaus in New York City, Washington, D.C., Hartford, Connecticut, and at the House of Representatives. This action was taken without advance notice to AP or to any of the affected journalists, and even after the fact no notice has been sent to individual journalists whose home phones and cell phone records were seized by the Department.There can be no possible justification for such an overbroad collection of the telephone communications of The Associated Press and its reporters. These records potentially reveal communications with confidential sources across all of the newsgathering activities undertaken by the AP during a two-month period, provide a road map to AP’s newsgathering operations, and disclose information about AP’s activities and operations that the government has no conceivable right to know.That the Department undertook this unprecedented step without providing any notice to the AP, and without taking any steps to narrow the scope of its subpoenas to matters actually relevant to an ongoing investigation, is particularly troubling.The sheer volume of records obtained, most of which can have no plausible connection to any ongoing investigation, indicates, at a minimum, that this effort did not comply with 28 C.F.R. §50.10 and should therefore never have been undertaken in the first place. The regulations require that, in all cases and without exception, a subpoena for a reporter’s telephone toll records must be "as narrowly drawn as possible.’’ This plainly did not happen.We regard this action by the Department of Justice as a serious interference with AP’s constitutional rights to gather and report the news. While we evaluate our options we urgently request that you immediately return to the AP the telephone toll records that the Department subpoenaed and destroy all copies. At a minimum, we request that you take steps to segregate these records and prohibit any reference to them pending further discussion and, if it proves necessary, guidance from appropriate judicial authorities. We also ask for an immediate explanation as to why this extraordinary action was taken, and a description of the steps the Department will take to mitigate its impact on AP and its reporters.Given the gravity of this situation, I look forward to your prompt response.Sincerely,Gary Pruitt

IRS-THUGGERY-GATE Grows!Wider Problems Found at IRS — Targeted Conservative Groups That Opposed Obama's Tyranny WALL STREET JOURNAL -- The Internal Revenue Service's scrutiny of conservative groups went beyond those with "tea party" or "patriot" in their names — as the agency admitted Friday — to also include ones worried about government spending, debt or taxes, and even ones that lobbied to "make America a better place to live," according to new details of a government probe.The investigation also revealed that a high-ranking IRS official knew as early as mid-2011 that conservative groups were being inappropriately targeted—nearly a year before then-IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman told a congressional committee the agency wasn't targeting conservative groups.Tax-exempt groups organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code are allowed to engage in some political activity, but the primary focus of their efforts must remain promoting social welfare.

The new disclosures are likely to inflame a widening controversy over IRS handling of dozens of applications by tea-party, patriot and other conservative groups for tax-exempt status.The details emerged from disclosures to congressional investigators by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. The findings, which were reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, don't make clear who came up with the idea to give extra scrutiny to the conservative groups.The Internal Revenue Service inappropriately flagged conservative political groups for additional reviews during the 2012 election to see if they were violating their tax exempt status. John McKinnon reports on the News Hub.The inspector general's office has been conducting an audit of the IRS's handling of the applications process and is expected to release a report this week. The audit follows complaints last year by numerous tea-party and other conservative groups that they had been singled out and subjected to excessive and inappropriate questioning. Many groups say they were asked for lists of their donors and other sensitive information.On Sunday, a government official said the report will note that IRS officials told investigators that no one outside the IRS was involved in developing the criteria the agency now acknowledges were flawed.On Friday, Lois Lerner, head of the IRS tax-exempt-organizations division, said the agency was "apologetic" for what she termed "absolutely inappropriate" actions by lower-level workers. She said those workers had selected some conservative groups for extra scrutiny to determine whether their applications should be approved. She said they had picked groups for extra scrutiny according to whether they had "tea party" or "patriot" in their names, among other criteria.Ms. Lerner came to the IRS in 2001 from the Federal Election Commission, and assumed her current position in 2006. IRS officials said Sunday that Ms. Lerner wasn't available for comment, and she didn't respond to an emailed request.GOP lawmakers stepped up their criticism on Sunday. "The bottom line is [IRS officials] used key words to go after conservatives," Rep. Darrell Issa (R., Calif.), said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press." "There has to be accountability for the people who did it. And, quite frankly…there's got to be accountability for people who were telling lies about it being done."Some Democrats also voiced criticism. "I'm concerned about that," said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D., Calif.), also on NBC. "Somebody made the decision that they would give extra scrutiny to this particular group. And I think we have to understand why."The IRS said over the weekend it is in the process of independently confirming the dates mentioned on the timeline of events contained in the inspector general report, "but we believe the [inspector general's] timeline is correct." The IRS said the report supports its view that its missteps weren't politically motivated and were limited to lower-level workers.The IRS also said the report reflects that "IRS senior leadership was not aware of this level of specific details" at the time of a March 2012 hearing where Mr. Shulman denied any targeting of conservative groups. Mr. Shulman, who no longer works for the IRS, declined to comment.The new details suggest that agency workers were examining statements in applications for tax-exempt status to determine whether groups had political leanings.Tax-exempt social-welfare groups organized under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code are allowed to engage in some political activity, but the primary focus of their efforts must remain promoting social welfare. That social-welfare activity can include lobbying and advocating for issues and legislation, but not outright political-campaign activity. But some of the rules leave room for IRS officials to make judgment calls and probe individual groups for further information.Organizing as such a group is desirable, not just because such entities typically don't have to pay taxes, but also because they generally don't have to identify their donors.IRS officials said last week that the focused review of conservative groups was initiated by lower-level civil servants in the IRS Cincinnati office, not by political appointees in Washington, and that it wasn't politically motivated. They say it stemmed from a misguided effort to centralize review of a growing number of applications for tax-exempt 501(c)(4) status.But questions continued to swirl about the failure of IRS officials to disclose the problems until the inspector general's report was about to become public.The timeline contained in the draft report indicates that IRS scrutiny of tea-party and other conservative groups began as early as 2010 and came to the attention of Ms. Lerner, the head of the tax-exempt-organizations division, at least by the following year.The report's timeline indicates that the criteria were changed to be more neutral in July 2011 after Ms. Lerner "raised concerns." The criteria for heightened scrutiny continued to evolve over the next year or so, even as complaints from tea-party groups—and questions from GOP lawmakers—mounted over IRS inquiries to various groups about their activities.Letters from Ms. Lerner in April and May 2012 responding to questions by Republican lawmakers made no mention of the problems that had surfaced in the IRS unit.According to the draft report, on April 24 and 25 of last year, officials in Ms. Lerner's office were reviewing "troubling questions" that had been asked of organizations, including "the names of donors."Ms. Lerner's April 26 letter to Mr. Issa, the chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said that "there are instances where donor information may be needed…such as when the application presents possible issues of…private benefit."The report indicates that in 2010 and 2011, some IRS workers weren't just singling out groups because their names contained certain words, as IRS officials suggested on Friday, but appeared to be probing for indications of political interests or leanings.According to the report, by June 2011 some IRS specialists were probing applications using the following criteria: "issues include government spending, government debt or taxes; education of the public by advocacy/lobbying to 'make America a better place to live'; statements in the case file criticize how the country is being run."

WASHINGTON (AP) — IRS watchdog: Senior IRS officials knew in 2011 tea parties’ tax-exempt status being targeted.(added) AP has expanded its report now (h/t reader):
A federal watchdog’s upcoming report says senior Internal Revenue Service officials knew agents were targeting tea party groups in 2011.
The disclosure contradicts public statements by former IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman, who repeatedly assured Congress that conservative groups were not targeted.On Friday, the IRS apologized for what it acknowledged was “inappropriate” targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see if those groups were violating their tax-exempt status.The Treasury’s inspector general for tax administration is expected to release the results of a nearly yearlong investigation in the coming week.
The Associated Press obtained part of the draft report.That report says the head of the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups learned that groups were being targeted in June 2011. It does not say whether Shulman was notified.Remember, you’re not paranoid, they really do hate you. At the highest levels.As IRS admits it targeted Tea Party groups, remember IRS is Obamacare enforcer.Hey, low-level IRS workers in Cincinnati, way to validate right-wing conspiracy theories for the rest of the century! bigstory.ap.org/article/irs-ap…— Daniel Drezner (@dandrezner) May 10, 2013UPDATE: The AP story is ever-expanding in its detail. H/t Ed Morrissey on this part:Among the other revelations, on Aug. 4, 2011, staffers in the IRS’ Rulings and Agreements office “held a meeting with chief counsel so that everyone would have the latest information on the issue.”On Jan, 25, 2012, the criteria for flagging suspect groups was changed to, “political action type organizations involved in limiting/expanding Government, educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights, social economic reform/movement,” the report says.Got that? The Chief Counsel knew, and in an election year the targeting expanded to groups educating people on the Constitution and Bill of Rights.The Democrats and media demonized the Tea Party and Homeland Security painted smaller government groups as potential threats, and guess who gets targeted by the IRS.IRS anti-Tea Party scandal gets real — senior IRS officials aware of targeting (Update – Chief Counsel knew and targets expanded to groups “educating on the Constitution and Bill of Rights”)

ABC, CBS and CNN Top Executives All Have Siblings or Spouses Working at the White HouseThere's Entirely Too Damn Much 'Incestual Bodily Fluids Being Shared' in Cesspool CityCBS News President David Rhodes and ABC News President Ben Sherwood, both of them have siblings that not only work at the White House, that not only work for President Obama, but they work at the NSC on foreign policy issues directly related to Benghazi."So stated political consultant and media commentator Richard Grenell on Saturday's Fox News Watch (video follows with transcript and commentary):RICHARD GRENELL: I think the media's becoming the story, let's face it. CBS News President David Rhodes and ABC News President Ben Sherwood, both of them have siblings that not only work at the White House, that not only work for President Obama, but they work at the NSC on foreign policy issues directly related to Benghazi. Let's call a spade a spade.Let's also show you why CNN did not go very far in covering these hearings because the CNN deputy bureau chief, Virginia Moseley, is married to Hillary Clinton’s deputy, Tom Nides. It is time for the media to start asking questions why are they not covering this. It's a family matter for some of them.JON SCOTT, HOST: So they don't want to bring embarrassment upon folks who, who they're close to?GRENELL: Who directly are related to this story. Absolutely. They're covering for them. There's no question about it.

For the record, Ben Sherwood's sister, Dr. Elizabeth Sherwood-Randall, is the Special Assistant to Barack Obama.Virginia Moseley'shusband, Tom Nides, is the Deputy Secretary of State for Management and Resources.

As for David Rhodes' brotherBen Rhodes, he is Obama's Deputy National Security Advisor for Strategic Communication.He has a Masters of Fine Arts in fiction writing from NYU. (LINK)He is President Obama’s deputy national security adviserHe was instrumental in fictionalizing the Benghazi talking pointsHe is brother of CBS News President David Rhodes (who's silencing reporting on Benghazi)He helped write the 9/11 Commission Report. (LINK)He is husband of Ann Norris, senior foreign policy and defense adviser to Sen. Barbara Boxer (who in Oct 2012, slammed Congressman Issa for Releasing Unclassified Benghazi Docs exposing the truth on Benghazi). (LINK)As ABCNews.com reported Friday, Rhodes was a key player in revising the White House's Benghazi talking points last September:In an email dated 9/14/12 at 9:34 p.m. — three days after the attack and two days before Ambassador Rice appeared on the Sunday shows – Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes wrote an email saying the State Department’s concerns needed to be addressed.“We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don’t want to undermine the FBI investigation. We thus will work through the talking points tomorrow morning at the Deputies Committee meeting.”After that meeting, which took place Saturday morning at the White House, the CIA drafted the final version of the talking points – deleting all references to al Qaeda and to the security warnings in Benghazi prior to the attack.Consider, too, that CBS News executives possibly including Rhodes have allegedly come down on their own investigative reporter Sharyl Attkisson for "wading dangerously close to advocacy on" Benghazi.If Attkisson gets the boot, it could very well be with a foot attached to the brother of an Obama administration official directly involved in the cover-up.A family matter indeed. ● UPDATE: Sharyl Attkisson in Talks to Leave CBS -- Sharyl Attkisson, the Emmy award-winning investigative reporter, is in talks to leave CBS News ahead of contract, POLITICO has learned. Sources familiar with the situation cite disputes between Attkisson and network executives, including CBS Evening News executive producer Patricia Shevlin, as the cause for the talks. ● Report: Tabloid TV Editor To Be Named NBC News President -- The floundering and willfully dishonest enterprise that is NBC News has apparently found its replacement for the disgraced Steve Capus. According to The New York Times, Deborah Turness, the current head of Britains tabloid-style ITV News, will become the next president of NBC News and the first woman to run a television news division. ● NBC Spiked Story ID'ing Benghazi Whistleblower as Obama/Clinton Voter -- Victoria Toensing, attorney for Benghazi whistleblower Gregory Hicks, says Hicks is a Democrat who voted for Hillary Clinton during the 2008 primaries, and President Obama twice for President. Toensing also said that NBC News "spiked" the story this week, prior to Hicks' dramatic testimony before Congress.

Dinosaur Media Bombshell: Benghazi Talking Points Underwent 12 Revisions, Scrubbed of Terror ReferenceEXCLUSIVE:ABC News has the evidence that proves beyond any doubt that the Obama Administration lied about its involvement in editing the CIA's talking points surrounding the September 11 attack on our consulate in Libya

By Jonathan Karl -- When it became clear last fall that the CIA’s now discredited Benghazi talking points were flawed, the White House said repeatedly the documents were put together almost entirely by the intelligence community, but White House documents reviewed by Congress suggest a different story.ABC News has obtained 12 different versions of the talking points that show they were extensively edited as they evolved from the drafts first written entirely by the CIA to the final version distributed to Congress and to U.S. Ambassador to the U.N. Susan Rice before she appeared on five talk shows the Sunday after that attack.White House emails reviewed by ABC News suggest the edits were made with extensive input from the State Department. The edits included requests from the State Department that references to the Al Qaeda-affiliated group Ansar al-Sharia be deleted as well references to CIA warnings about terrorist threats in Benghazi in the months preceding the attack.That would appear to directly contradict what White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said about the talking pointsin November.“Those talking points originated from the intelligence community. They reflect the IC’s best assessments of what they thought had happened,” Carney told reporters at the White House press briefing on November 28, 2012. “The White House and the State Department have made clear that the single adjustment that was made to those talking points by either of those two institutions were changing the word ‘consulate’ to ‘diplomatic facility’ because ‘consulate’ was inaccurate.”Summaries of White House and State Department emails — some of which were first published by Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard — show that the State Department had extensive input into the editing of the talking points.State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland raised specific objections to this paragraph drafted by the CIA in its earlier versions of the talking points:“The Agency has produced numerous pieces on the threat of extremists linked to al-Qa’ida in Benghazi and eastern Libya. These noted that, since April, there have been at least five other attacks against foreign interests in Benghazi by unidentified assailants, including the June attack against the British Ambassador’s convoy. We cannot rule out the individuals has previously surveilled the U.S. facilities, also contributing to the efficacy of the attacks.”

In an email to officials at the White House and the intelligence agencies, State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland took issue with including that information because it “could be abused by members [of Congress] to beat up the State Department for not paying attention to warnings, so why would we want to feed that either? Concerned …”The paragraph was entirely deleted.Like the final version used by Ambassador Rice on the Sunday shows, the CIA’s first drafts said the attack appeared to have been “spontaneously inspired by the protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo” but the CIA version went on to say, “That being said, we do know that Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qa’ida participated in the attack.” The draft went on to specifically name the al Qaeda-affiliated group named Ansar al-Sharia.Once again, Nuland objected to naming the terrorist groups because “we don’t want to prejudice the investigation.”In response, an NSC staffer coordinating the review of the talking points wrote back to Nuland, “The FBI did not have major concerns with the points and offered only a couple minor suggestions.”After the talking points were edited slightly to address Nuland’s concerns, she responded that changes did not go far enough.“These changes don’t resolve all of my issues or those of my buildings leadership,” Nuland wrote.In an email dated 9/14/12 at 9:34 p.m. — three days after the attack and two days before Ambassador Rice appeared on the Sunday shows – Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes wrote an email saying the State Department’s concerns needed to be addressed.“We must make sure that the talking points reflect all agency equities, including those of the State Department, and we don’t want to undermine the FBI investigation. We thus will work through the talking points tomorrow morning at the Deputies Committee meeting.”After that meeting, which took place Saturday morning at the White House, the CIA drafted the final version of the talking points – deleting all references to al Qaeda and to the security warnings in Benghazi prior to the attack.White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said none of this contradicts what he said about the talking points because ultimately all versions were actually written and signed-off by the CIA.“The CIA drafted these talking points and redrafted these talking points,” Carney said. “The fact that there are inputs is always the case in a process like this, but the only edits made by anyone here at the White House were stylistic and nonsubstantive. They corrected the description of the building or the facility in Benghazi from consulate to diplomatic facility and the like. And ultimately, this all has been discussed and reviewed and provided in enormous levels of detail by the administration to Congressional investigators, and the attempt to politicize the talking points, again, is part of an effort to, you know, chase after what isn’t the substance here.”UPDATE:A source familiar with the White House emails on the Benghazi talking point revisions say that State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland was raising two concerns about the CIA’s first version of talking points, which were going to be sent to Congress:(1) The talking points went further than what she was allowed to say about the attack during her state department briefings; and,(2) she believed the CIA was attempting to exonerate itself at the State Department’s expense by suggesting CIA warnings about the security situation were ignored.In one email, Nuland asked, why are we suggest Congress “start making assertions to the media [about the al Qaeda connection] that we ourselves are not making because we don’t want to prejudice the investigation?”One other point: The significant edits – deleting references to al Qaeda and the CIA’s warnings – came after a White House meeting on the Saturday before Ambassador Susan Rice appeared on five Sunday shows. Nuland, a 30-year foreign service veteran who has served under Democratic and Republican Secretaries of State, was not at that meeting and played no direct role in preparing Rice for her interviews.Emails Reveal a Flurry of Changes to Benghazi Talking Points

By Sharyl Attkisson -- As House Republicans piece together the events in Benghazi, Libya on Sept. 11, 2012, that led to the death of four Americans, the focus has fallen on the talking points the Obama administration used to describe the attack in the days following.The talking points were revised numerous times before United Nations Ambassador Susan Rice used them on political talk shows on Sept. 16. While the White House says the changes were merely stylistic, the changes suggest administration officials were interested in sparing the State Department from political criticism in the wake of the attack.CBS News has learned there was a flurry of approximately 100 interagency government emails on Sept. 14 and Sept. 15 regarding the content of the talking points to be released to members of Congress regarding the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that killed U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three others in Benghazi. The email list included officials from the White House, State Department, CIA, FBI and others reviewing the talking points..An early set of talking points was ready for interagency review at 11:15 a.m. on Friday, Sept. 14.:11:15 a.m. talking points: "....we do know that Islamic extremists with ties to al-Qa'ida participated in the attack."4:42 p.m. talking points: Changed "attacks in Benghazi" to "demonstrations in Benghazi."Added: "On 10 September we warned of social media reports calling for a demonstration in front of the Embassy [in Cairo] and that jihadists were threatening to break into the Embassy." This news that a warning had been given was later removed.Added: "The Agency [CIA] has produced numerous pieces on the threat of extremists linked to al-Qa'ida in Benghazi and eastern Libya. These noted that, since April, there have been at least five other attacks against foreign interests in Benghazi by unidentified assailants, including the June attack against the British Ambassador's convoy. We cannot rule out the individuals has previously surveilled the U.S. facilities, also contributing to the efficacy of the attacks." This news of advance warning of a threat was later removed.Removed reference to "ties to al Qa'ida" and again changed "attack" to "violent demonstrations."In a 6:52 p.m. email: John Brennan, then-Deputy National Security Advisor (now head of CIA) asked for removal of "the crowd almost certainly was a mix of individuals from across many sectors of Libya society."7:39 p.m. email: State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland expressed the most sweeping concerns. "I have serious concerns about all parts highlighted below in arming members of Congress with information to start making assertions to the media that we ourselves are not making because we don't want to prejudice the investigation... Why do we want the Hill to be fingering [al-Qaeda linked] Ansar al-Sharia when we aren't doing that ourselves until we have investigation results? And the penultimate point is a paragraph talking about all the previous warnings provided by the Agency [CIA] about al-Qaeda's presence and activities of al-Qaeda...[which] could be abused by members of Congress to fault the State Department for not paying attention... so why would we want to cede that, either?"8:59 p.m. email: A facilitator of the email threads answers Nuland's concerns about "prejudicing the investigation" by stating "The FBI did not have major concerns with the points and offered only a couple of minor suggestions." Nonetheless, they remove a paragraph referring to Ansar al-Sharia from the next version.8:59 p.m. talking points: Changed "we do know" to "there are indications that" Islamic extremists participated in the violent demonstrations."Removed "Initial press reporting linked the attack to Ansar al-Sharia. The group has since released a statement that its leadership did not order the attacks, but did not deny that some of its members were involved. Ansar al-Sharia's Facebook page aims to spread Sharia in Libya and emphasizes the need for jihad to counter what it views as false interpretations of Islam, according to an open source study.9:24 p.m. email: Nuland responds: "These don't resolve all of my issues or those of my building leadership. They are consulting with NSS [National Security Staff.]"9:25 p.m. email: Jake Sullivan, then-Secretary of State Clinton's Deputy Chief of Staff (now National Security Advisor for Vice President Biden) tells the group "I spoke with Tommy (Vietor-then-spokesman for the White House National Security Council)... we'll work this through in the morning."9:32 p.m. email: Sullivan to Nuland: "Talked to Tommy (Vietor). We can make edits."9:34 p.m. email: Ben Rhodes, Deputy National Security Adviser to President Obama regarding a federal agency Deputies meeting that's been called the next morning to discuss the talking points: "...we don't want to undermine the investigation...we want to address every department's equities including the State Department, so we'll deal with this at the Deputies meeting."The CIA's legislative affairs representatives loops in then-CIA chief David Petraeus, notifying him of "major coordination problems... State has major concerns... the Bureau [FBI] cleared the points but [Ben] Rhodes said they will be reviewed in the Deputies meeting."

What We Learned This Week in a Nutshell:5 Key Points from Benghazigate Hearing(1) Two "stand-down" orders were given while the Benghazi attacks were in progress.(2) The "protest" about a YouTube video was a complete fabrication by the Obama administration.(3) Cheryl Mills, Clinton's lawyer at the State Department, told witnesses not to speak to House investigators.(4) The diplomatic personnel on the ground acted with incredible, unheralded heroism.(5) Democrats came to rebut the eyewitnesses with talking points.The key question remains unanswered: What did President Barack Obamado when he learned the consulate was under attack, and why?Text of Testimonies from Three Witnesses:Mr. Gregory Hicks -- (Testimony)Foreign Service Officer and former Deputy Chief of Mission/Chargé d’Affairs in Libya U.S. Department of StateMr. Mark Thompson -- (Testimony)Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Counterterrorism U.S. Department of StateMr. Eric Nordstrom -- (Testimony)Diplomatic Security Officer and former Regional Security Officer in Libya U.S. Department of State

By Arnold Ahlert -- Wednesday on Capitol Hill, three impeccable witnesses offered the clearest evidence to date that the Obama administration’s response to Benghazi before, during and after the terrorist attack that claimed the lives of Ambassador Christopher Stevens, State Department employee Sean Smith, and former Navy SEALs Glen A. Doherty and Tyrone S. Woods, was a deadly combination of ineptitude, political calculations, and outright lying.Mark Thompson, acting deputy assistant Secretary of State for counterterrorism; Greg Hicks, former deputy chief of mission in Libya; and Eric Nordstrom, former regional security officer in Libya, offered unshakeable testimony, despite efforts by several Democratic lawmakers to protect both the current administration and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, their party’s most viable presidential candidate for 2016. What the witnesses averred reveals a grim web of deceit likely orchestrated by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama to cover up the order to ground U.S. rescue teams that could have easily saved our besieged countrymen in Benghazi. Continued >>

14Hillary Lied to Congress with Confidence Knowing that She Hadn't Taken the Oath to Tell "the Truth, the Whole Truth"The Election's Over, Obama Won, and I'm the Next!In her Jan. 23 testimony when asked if she was standing by the absurd story claiming that four Americans were murdered in Libya due to a spontaneous protest due to a spontaneous protest gone bad, outgoing Secretary of State Hillary Clinton played the indignation card. Because she obviously had no answer to justify the ongoing White House deception, Secretary Clinton chose theatrics over a straight answer and clarity responded:"With all due respect, the fact is we have four dead Americans. Whether it was because of a protest or because guys outside for a walk one night decided to go kill some Americans. What difference at this point does it make?"

Wednesday's testimony on the Benghazi terror attacks by State Department whistleblowers before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform contradicted several statements by then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in testimony before House and Senate committees in January.However, while Clinton may have misled Congress in her testimony, she likely did not commit perjury because she never actually testified under oath.Video recordings of Clinton's Jan. 23 testimony before the House Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee suggest that she was never sworn in. Breitbart News subsequently confirmed with staff on both committees that she did not take an oath to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth," as the three witnesses, all career civil servants, did Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee.A Senate aide confirmed to Breitbart News Thursday: "We checked with the committee and she wasn’t sworn in." A House aide indicated that Clinton had not been sworn in, but added that "all witnesses testifying before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, including Secretary Clinton, are under a legal obligation to tell the truth. Any misrepresentation to the Committee in the context of a review or investigation is a violation of law."Perjury and lying to Congress are two different crimes. Perjury, defined under 18 U.S.C. § 1621, requires violation of an oath. The crime of making a false statement to Congress, defined under 18 U.S.C. § 1001, covers lying about or concealing a "a material fact" in "any investigation or review, conducted pursuant to the authority of any committee, subcommittee, commission or office of the Congress, consistent with applicable rules of the House or Senate."The difference is subtle but significant. A witness testifying under oath is under a greater obligation to tell the truth right down to what he or she believes it to be. A witness merely testifying to a committee of Congress without taking an oath may not subjectively believe what he or she is saying but will probably escape punishment, so long as he or she does not "knowingly and willfully" misrepresent or cover up a material fact.The differential treatment partly reflects the traditional deference shown by the legislature to presidential appointees, but also reflects a phenomenon referred to by the witnesses on Wednesday, who noted that the key decisions had been made by "presidentially-appointed, Senate-confirmed" officials, yet those disciplined thus far had been career civil servants. The message, they said, was that "if you're above a certain level" you will not be held accountable.Given these contradictions, it appears that Clinton misled Congress. But she did not do so under oath, and it would be difficult to prove her guilty of "knowingly and willfully" concealing material facts when she was reporting her memories and impressions of a volatile situation.The only way to find out the truth is to recall Clinton--as Rice was once recalled--to testify under oath about what happened on Sep. 11, 2012 and in the days that followed.

Chill the Champagne! Benghazi Impeachment Suddenly Not So Far-Fetched!

By Roger L. Simon -- On October 27th, 2012, only days before the presidential election, I wrote: If Barack Obama is reelected, will he face impeachment over Benghazi — a yet more unpleasant and far more wrenching result than to lose an election?It could happen — and in my estimation should happen — the way revelations are playing out over the bloody terror attack that took four American lives and has led to weeks of prevarication and obfuscation.The scandal thus far has at least tarnished and quite possibly implicated everyone from the CIA director, to the secretaries of State and Defense, to the UN ambassador and, of course, the president himself — with no end in sight, because Obama, normally loath to expose himself and even less so in an election season, refuses to answer questions on the subject.It’s not the crime, but the cover-up, we learned in an earlier impeachment, only in this case the crime may be just as bad or worse.”That post was a follow-up to my item from the previous week saying that Obama should resign over Benghazi, which was linked to by Drudge, and created a minor brouhaha. Between those two posts, a number of people accused me of being overheated. I even started to feel that way myself. (Hey, I’m a screenwriter. Dramatic license comes with the job description.) No longer.Reading Stephen F. Hayes’ new article in The Weekly Standard — “The Benghazi Talking Points” [Follows this article] — I am beginning to feel like Nostradamus. I’m not ready to make any predictions, but let’s put it this way…Barack Obama is bloody lucky he’s a Democrat, because if he were a Republican, he’d be in deep trouble right now, close to the brink of extinction. Only his increasingly pathetic loyal media claque can save him. It will be interesting to see if they do so at the expense of their own reputations.Of course the reputations of the State Department need to be considered as well, that same State Dept that, according to Hayes (and this is corroborated by emails he publishes), bowdlerized and censored all references to al-Qaeda involvement in the Benghazi events before they could reach the fragile American public in an election year, almost even as they were happening. This was before Susan Rice made her dog-and-pony performance on the Sunday shows, asserting it was all caused by a video nobody watched, and long before the oleaginous Candy Crowley famously covered up for Obama on Benghazi at the presidential foreign-policy debate.Hayes names the names of some of the State Department miscreants involved in this repellent anti-democratic censorship. Among them is one Victoria Nuland, who makes Pinocchio seem like Diogenes. (You can find a video of her as well as some droll tweets from the blogger Ace of Spades demanding an explanation for all this prevarication, and even a tweet from me, here.)But it’s not just State. According to Hayes, on the CIA side, a fellow named Mike Morell, their deputy director, “cut all or parts of four paragraphs of the six-paragraph talking points — 148 of its 248 words. Gone were the reference to ‘Islamic extremists,’ the reminders of agency warnings about al Qaeda in Libya, the reference to ‘jihadists’ in Cairo, the mention of possible surveillance of the facility in Benghazi, and the report of five previous attacks on foreign interests.”So why did this all happen? Who were they covering up for, hiding Islamic terror involvement? Post-Boston, it seems particularly despicable, even if it was already bad enough with all the death and injury to U.S. service personnel who risk life and limb to defend our freedom.But never mind. We are in a fascinating period of unraveling. Whistleblowers in the defense community are appearing. I’m sure at State, some are looking over their shoulders, waiting for the “Night of the Long Knives” to begin. It probably has already.How far will it go? We will soon, no doubt, be in the period of “limited hangouts.” (The attempt by Jay Carney, Obama’s press secretary, to play the “Benghazi happened a long time ago” dodge on Wednesday arguably fits this definition.) Who will be the John Dean, the Erlichman, and Haldeman? Is “Deep Benghazi Throat” talking at this moment?While we are making Watergate analogies, it’s worth noting this is far worse than that noxious moment in American history or the other recent impeachment episode — Clinton. In the former, some dumb zealots broke into the campaign headquarters of the opposition party in an election that wasn’t remotely close. Nevertheless, the paranoid Nixon destroyed himself by trying to cover up the idiocy. Clinton wagged his finger at us and lied about sex under oath, while his wife — an important figure in Benghazi where she has already been caught dissimulating — similarly lied by publicly blaming her husband’s philandering on the “great right-wing conspiracy.” (What power!)Creepy behavior all around and certainly nothing remotely presidential, but, compared to Benghazi, no one died or was even injured. As far as I know, no one even stubbed a toe.Benghazi, on the contrary, was an important battle in the Global War on Terror, which has now reached our shores more than once. It will undoubtedly do so again. Those who take this casually in the slightest are conscious or unconscious traitors or fools — or so self-interested as to be beneath contempt.The Congress must be unstinting in pursuing the truth of Benghazi wherever it leads and however high it goes. If they do not, our country will be weakened, probably beyond recognition.I don’t know about you, but I will be watching closely on Wednesday, May 8th, when Rep. Issa begins his public inquiry. These may be the beginnings of the most important hearings of our lifetime.In the meantime, for some comic relief, let’s do the “Mashed Potato,” BHO-style, and dedicate it to Jay Carney: “Benghazi started long time ago / With a guy name Gaddafi / No one knew how to spell his name / Come on baby, gonna teach it to you…”

The Benghazi Talking Points — And How They Were Changed to Obscure the Truth

By Stephen F. Hayes -- Even as the White House strove last week to move beyond questions about the Benghazi attacks of Tuesday, September 11, 2012, fresh evidence emerged that senior Obama administration officials knowingly misled the country about what had happened in the days following the assaults.The Weekly Standard has obtained a [SEE] timeline briefed by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence detailing the heavy substantive revisions made to the CIA’s talking points, just six weeks before the 2012 presidential election, and additional information about why the changes were made and by whom.As intelligence officials pieced together the puzzle of events unfolding in Libya, they concluded even before the assaults had ended that al Qaeda-linked terrorists were involved. Senior administration officials, however, sought to obscure the emerging picture and downplay the significance of attacks that killed a U.S. ambassador and three other Americans. The frantic process that produced the changes to the talking points took place over a 24-hour period just one day before Susan Rice, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, made her now-famous appearances on the Sunday television talk shows. The discussions involved senior officials from the State Department, the National Security Council, the CIA, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the White House.The exchange of emails is laid out in a 43-page report from the chairmen of five committees in the House of Representatives. Although the investigation was conducted by Republicans, leading some reporters and commentators to dismiss it, the report quotes directly from emails between top administration and intelligence officials, and it includes footnotes indicating the times the messages were sent. In some cases, the report did not provide the names of the senders, but The Weekly Standard has confirmed the identities of the authors of two critical emails — one indicating the main reason for the changes and the other announcing that the talkin points would receive their final substantive rewrite at a meeting of top administration officials on Saturday, September 15.The White House provided the emails to members of the House and Senate intelligence committees for a limited time and with the stipulation that the documents were available for review only and would not be turned over to the committees. The White House and committee leadership agreed to that arrangement as part of a deal that would keep Republican senators from blocking the confirmation of John Brennan, the president’s choice to run the CIA. If the House report provides an accurate and complete depiction of the emails, it is clear that senior administration officials engaged in a wholesale rewriting of intelligence assessments about Benghazi in order to mislead the public.The Weekly Standard sought comment from officials at the White House, the State Department, and the CIA, but received none by press time. Within hours of the initial attack on the U.S. facility, the State Department Operations Center sent out two alerts. The first, at 4:05 p.m. (all times are Eastern Daylight Time), indicated that the compound was under attack; the second, at 6:08 p.m., indicated that Ansar al Sharia, an al Qaeda-linked terrorist group operating in Libya, had claimed credit for the attack. According to the House report, these alerts were circulated widely inside the government, including at the highest levels.The fighting in Benghazi continued for another several hours, so top Obama administration officials were told even as the fighting was taking place that U.S. diplomats and intelligence operatives were likely being attacked by al Qaeda-affiliated terrorists. A cable sent the following day, September 12, by the CIA station chief in Libya, reported that eyewitnesses confirmed the participation of Islamic militants and made clear that U.S. facilities in Benghazi had come under terrorist attack. It was this fact, along with several others, that top Obama officials would work so hard to obscure.After a briefing on Capitol Hill by CIA director David Petraeus, Democrat Dutch Ruppersburger, the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, asked the intelligence community for unclassified guidance on what members of Congress could say in their public comments on the attacks. The CIA’s Office of Terrorism Analysis prepared the first draft of a response to the congressman, which was distributed internally for comment at 11:15 a.m. on Friday, September 14 (Version 1 at right). This initial CIA draft included the assertion that the U.S. government “know[s] that Islamic extremists with ties to al Qaeda participated in the attack.”That draft also noted that press reports “linked the attack to Ansar al Sharia. The group has since released a statement that its leadership did not order the attacks, but did not deny that some of its members were involved.” Ansar al Sharia, the CIA draft continued, aims to spread sharia law in Libya and “emphasizes the need for jihad.” The agency draft also raised the prospect that the facilities had been the subject of jihadist surveillance and offered a reminder that in the previous six months there had been “at least five other attacks against foreign interests in Benghazi by unidentified assailants, including the June attack against the British Ambassador’s convoy.”After the internal distribution, CIA officials amended that draft to include more information about the jihadist threat in both Egypt and Libya. “On 10 September we warned of social media reports calling for a demonstration in front of the [Cairo] Embassy and that jihadists were threatening to break into the Embassy,” the agency had added by late afternoon. And: “The Agency has produced numerous pieces on the threat of extremists linked to al Qaeda in Benghazi and Libya.” But elsewhere, CIA officials pulled back. The reference to “Islamic extremists” no longer specified “Islamic extremists with ties to al Qaeda,” and the initial reference to “attacks” in Benghazi was changed to “demonstrations.”The talking points were first distributed to officials in the interagency vetting process at 6:52 p.m. on Friday. Less than an hour later, at 7:39 p.m., an individual identified in the House report only as a “senior State Department official” responded to raise “serious concerns” about the draft. That official, whom The Weekly Standard has confirmed was State Department spokesman Victoria Nuland, worried that members of Congress would use the talking points to criticize the State Department for “not paying attention to Agency warnings.”In an attempt to address those concerns, CIA officials cut all references to Ansar al Sharia and made minor tweaks. But in a follow-up email at 9:24 p.m., Nuland wrote that the problem remained and that her superiors—she did not say which ones — were unhappy. The changes, she wrote, did not “resolve all my issues or those of my building leadership,” and State Department leadership was contacting National Security Council officials directly. Moments later, according to the House report, “White House officials responded by stating that the State Department’s concerns would have to be taken into account.”One official — Ben Rhodes, The Weekly Standard is told, a top adviser to President Obama on national security and foreign policy — further advised the group that the issues would be resolved in a meeting of top administration officials the following morning at the White House.There is little information about what happened at that meeting of the Deputies Committee. But according to two officials with knowledge of the process, Mike Morrell, deputy director of the CIA, made broad changes to the draft afterwards. Morrell cut all or parts of four paragraphs of the six-paragraph talking points — 148 of its 248 words (see Version 2 above). Gone were the reference to “Islamic extremists,” the reminders of agency warnings about al Qaeda in Libya, the reference to “jihadists” in Cairo, the mention of possible surveillance of the facility in Benghazi, and the report of five previous attacks on foreign interests.What remained—and would be included in the final version of the talking points — was mostly boilerplate about ongoing investigations and working with the Libyan government, together with bland language suggesting that the “violent demonstrations” — no longer “attacks” — were spontaneous responses to protests in Egypt and may have included generic “extremists” (see Version 3 above).If the story of what happened in Benghazi was dramatically stripped down from the first draft of the CIA’s talking points to the version that emerged after the Deputies Committee meeting, the narrative would soon be built up again. In ensuing days, administration officials emphasized a “demonstration” in front of the U.S. facility in Benghazi and claimed that the demonstrators were provoked by a YouTube video. The CIA had softened “attack” to “demonstration.” But as soon became clear, there had been no demonstration in Benghazi.More troubling was the YouTube video. Rice would spend much time on the Sunday talk shows pointing to this video as the trigger of the chaos in Benghazi. “What sparked the violence was a very hateful video on the Internet. It was a reaction to a video that had nothing to do with the United States.” There is no mention of any “video” in any of the many drafts of the talking points.Still, top Obama officials would point to the video to explain Benghazi. President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even denounced the video in a sort of diplomatic public service announcement in Pakistan. In a speech at the United Nations on September 25, the president mentioned the video several times in connection with Benghazi.On September 17, the day after Rice appeared on the Sunday shows, Nuland defended Rice’s performance during the daily briefing at the State Department. “What I will say, though, is that Ambassador Rice, in her comments on every network over the weekend, was very clear, very precise, about what our initial assessment of what happened is. And this was not just her assessment, it was also an assessment you’ve heard in comments coming from the intelligence community, in comments coming from the White House.”It was a preview of the administration’s defense of its claims on Ben­ghazi. After pushing the intelligence community to revise its talking points to fit the administration’s preferred narrative, administration officials would point fingers at the intelligence community when parts of that narrative were shown to be misleading or simply untrue.And at times, members of the intelligence community appeared eager to help. On September 28, a statement from ODNI seemed designed to quiet the growing furor over the administration’s explanations of Benghazi. “In the immediate aftermath, there was information that led us to assess that the attack began spontaneously following protests earlier that day at our embassy in Cairo. We provided that initial assessment to Executive Branch officials and members of Congress, who used that information to discuss the attack publicly and provide updates as they became available.”The statement continued: “As we learned more about the attack, we revised our initial assessment to reflect new information indicating that it was a deliberate and organized attack carried out by extremists. It remains unclear if any group or person exercised overall command and control of the attack, and if extremist group leaders directed their members to participate. However, we do assess that some of those involved were linked to groups affiliated with, or sympathetic to al Qaeda.”The statement strongly implies that the information about al Qaeda-linked terrorists was new, a revision of the initial assessment. But it wasn’t. Indeed, the original assessment stated, without qualification, “we do know that Islamic extremists with ties to al Qaeda participated in the attack.”The statement from the ODNI came not from James Clapper, the director of national intelligence, but from his spokesman, Shawn Turner. When the statement was released, current and former intelligence officials told The Weekly Standard that they found the statement itself odd and the fact that it didn’t come from Clapper stranger still. Clapper was traveling when he was first shown a draft of the statement to go out under his name. It is not an accident that it didn’t.The revelations about exactly how the talking points were written, revised, and then embellished come amid renewed scrutiny of the administration’s handling of Benghazi. Fox News spoke to a Special Ops soldier last week who raised new questions about what happened during the attack, and the State Department’s inspector general acknowledged that the office would be investigating the production of the Administrative Review Board report on the attacks because of concerns that investigators did not speak to a broad spectrum of individuals with knowledge of the attack and its aftermath. On May 8, the House Oversight and Government Reform committee will hold another hearing on the matter. And Republicans in Congress have asked the administration to release all of the emails, something that would further clarify how the changes came about.Stephen F. Hayes is a senior writer at The Weekly Standard.The Benghazi Scandal Grows — Stephen Hayes' Comments Following HearingBy Stephen F. Hayes -- CIA director David Petraeus was surprised when he read the freshly rewritten talking points an aide had emailed him in the early afternoon of Saturday, September 15. One day earlier, analysts with the CIA’s Office of Terrorism Analysis had drafted a set of unclassified talking points policymakers could use to discuss the attacks in Benghazi, Libya. But this new version​—​produced with input from senior Obama administration policymakers​—​was a shadow of the original.The original CIA talking points had been blunt: The assault on U.S. facilities in Benghazi was a terrorist attack conducted by a large group of Islamic extremists, including some with ties to al Qaeda.These were strong claims. The CIA usually qualifies its assessments, providing policymakers a sense of whether the conclusions of its analysis are offered with “high confidence,” “moderate confidence,” or “low confidence.” That first draft signaled confidence, even certainty: “We do know that Islamic extremists with ties to al Qaeda participated in the attack.”There was good reason for this conviction. Within 24 hours of the attack, the U.S. government had intercepted communications between two al Qaeda-linked terrorists discussing the attacks in Benghazi. One of the jihadists, a member of Ansar al Sharia, reported to the other that he had participated in the assault on the U.S. diplomatic post. Solid evidence. And there was more. Later that same day, the CIA station chief in Libya had sent a memo back to Washington, reporting that eyewitnesses to the attack said the participants were known jihadists, with ties to al Qaeda. Continued >>

By Ed Lasky -- Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard has a must read column [See Above Column] regarding the Benghazi cover-up by White House officials CIA career officials clearly and repeatedly identified Al Qaeda and Al Qaeda-linked Islamic terrorists as the culprits behind the murder of four Americans.Of course, this would cause embarrassment for the Obama team, especially in the few weeks before the election. They had been boasting for years that Al Qaeda had been decimated, the "tide of war" was receding; they had been on a mission to whitewash the prospect of Islamic terrorism as a threat to America (see Lauri Regan's superb column ("Can a President who has promised to stand with Muslims protect America? ).Obama's Cairo speech before an audience that included Muslim Brotherhood officials that he compelled Egypt to include, was a paean to Islam. It was also, to a great extent, a work of fiction that included grandiose and subsequently disproven claims about the positive contributions Islam has made to America and the world.That speech was written by Obama's foreign policy speechwriter and now National Security Council team member, Ben Rhodes.That is the man who Hayes "outs" as a key person behind the Benghazi cover-up.He reportedly altered the CIA talking points to delete references to Islamic terrorists, "attacks" (they became "demonstrations") and other negative references to Islamism. Also, someone at the White House level apparently dreamt up the idea of blaming an inconsequential video for triggering a spontaneous protest, that in the frenzy of events, led to the murder of Americans. These CIA talking points were eviscerated to whitewash the role of Islamic terrorism.There was a White House whitewash that should not be dismissed over events that occurred a 'long time ago." Continued >>Ben Rhodes -- Obama’s Benghazi PropagandistBy Matthew Vadum -- A young White House speechwriter may be responsible for concocting the official lies about last September’s deadly terrorist attacks in Benghazi, Libya.Rhodes doesn’t have an obviously radical left-wing background but he is extraordinarily well-connected. His brother, David Rhodes, used to work for Fox News but is now president of CBS News. His wife, Ann Norris, is senior foreign policy and defense advisor to Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.)A native New Yorker, Rhodes earned a B.A. from Rice University and an M.F.A. from New York University. While earning his master’s degree, he taught writing at NYU and John Jay College.Rhodes has President Obama’s ear. He urged Obama to reverse three decades of U.S. support for now-deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and to lead an intervention in Libya ostensibly designed to prevent then-dictator Muammar Qaddafi from committing atrocities against civilians. He coined the phrase, “kinetic military action,” the administration’s hideous euphemism for war. More Here >>

3 More Government Officials to Testify Over Benghazi AttacksDiplomats Gregory Hicks, Eric Nordstrom and Mark Thompson Contradict the White House Lies on Benghazi

By Sharyl Attkisson -- As the deputy chief of mission for the U.S. in Libya, Gregory Hicks was on the ground at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli on September 11, 2012, when terrorists launched two attacks on American compounds in Benghazi.Hicks and two other government officials have been named as witnesses for a Congressional hearing Wednesday before the House Oversight Committee. The others are: Eric Nordstrom, the former lead security official for the State Department in Libya, and Mark Thompson, the acting deputy assistant secretary for counterterrorism at the State Department.Other so-called "whistleblowers" from federal agencies, including the CIA, have provided information to Congressional investigators, but are said to be unwilling - so far - to speak publicly because they aren't authorized by their agencies to do so. Some claim fear of retaliation.It's been a remarkably long period of silence from the dozens of American survivors and eyewitnesses who were in Libya the night of the attacks. It's not publicly known what testimony the witnesses will give at this week's hearing, but in a series of interviews and communications, CBS News has obtained information about some of areas of knowledge the witnesses can address.Hicks was number two to Ambassador Christopher Stevens, who was killed in the attacks. With Stevens in Benghazi on September 11, Hicks was the top Foreign Service official at the U.S. Embassy in Tripoli. When the first U.S. compound in Benghazi fell under attack, Hicks reportedly took the frantic call."Greg, we are under attack," Ambassador Stevens told Hicks on the phone. Those were the last words he heard from Stevens.VIDEO: Rep. Darrell Issa Gives Benghazi Details from Whistle-Blowers: Says Talking Points Were a "Fatal Error"According to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who appeared Sunday on "Face the Nation,"Gregory Hicks recently testified privately to the House Oversight Committee: "I never reported a demonstration. I reported an attack on the consulate...I thought it was a terrorist attack from the get-go. I think everyone in the mission thought it was a terrorist attack from the beginning."Hicks was also on the receiving end of calls when Stevens went missing. Later, he was on the phone when an unidentified man called the U.S. Embassy using Stevens' own telephone to say the ambassador was at Benghazi hospital. Still later, Hicks said he was there when Stevens' body was turned over to U.S. personnel under circumstances that still remain mysterious.

THIS DEVASTING ACCOUNT OF WHAT HAPPENED SHOULD DESTROY THE OBAMA REGIME!Throughout the night, sources say Americans on the ground in Libya at times felt helpless and abandoned."We relied on Washington for dispassionate assessment," one eyewitness told CBS News. "Instead, they [Washington officials] were asking us what help we needed. We answered: 'Send reinforcements!' "But they were told immediate help wasn't available.Embassy personnel say they repeatedly asked the Defense Attache on site in Tripoli for military assistance."Isn't there anything available?" one Embassy official says he asked. "But the answer was 'NO.'""What about Aviano?" the official pressed, referencing the NATO air base with U.S. assets in northeastern Italy. "NO," was the answer.Two of the four Americans killed that night died hours after the first attack began.

● Official: We knew Benghazi was a terrorist attack "from the get-go" ● Biden, Kerry honor fallen U.S. diplomats ● Full coverage: U.S. Consulate attack in BenghaziSome have complained the Obama Administration has not explained why there were no military resources available to turbulent North Africa on the Sept. 11 attacks, even at the large Souda Bay U.S. Naval base less than an hour's flight from Libya. The State Department's independent Accountability Review Board said government officials did everything they could, considering the challenges. The Defense Department has since reported implementation of improvements to make military resources more readily available if needed.Another witness for Wednesday's hearing, Mark Thompson, is a counterterrorism expert. He's likely to address another sore spot surrounding the night of the attacks: the fact that the Obama Administration did not convene its top interagency counterterrorism resource, the Counterterrorism Security Group (CSG). According to Rep. Issa, Thompson will testify that he was locked out of the process "even though he was the individual who was supposed to react to these kinds of things."Counterterrorism sources and internal emails reviewed by CBS News express frustration that key responders were ready to deploy, but were not called upon to help in the attack.National Security Council Spokesman Tommy Vietor told CBS News the CSG was not needed."From the moment the president was briefed on the Benghazi attack, the response effort was handled by the most senior national security officials in governments. Members of the CSG were of course involved in these meetings and discussions to support their bosses," said Vietor."The CSG is the one group that's supposed to know what resources every agency has. They know of multiple options and have the ability to coordinate counterterrorism assets across all the agencies," a high-ranking government official told CBS News. "They were not allowed to do their job. They were not called upon."Absent coordination from Counterterrorism Security Group, a senior U.S. counterterrorism official says the response to the crisis became more confused. "The response process was isolated at the most senior level," says an official referring to top officials in the executive branch. "My fellow counterterrorism professionals and I (were) not consulted."Hicks and several others whose accounts are at odds with official government statements about Benghazi have reported feeling marginalized, intimidated and/or subjected to threats of retaliation.The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, Dutch Ruppersberger, told Bob Schieffer on Sunday's "Face the Nation:" "Let's get the facts. This should not be a partisan issue at all. This should be to get the facts, an open issue, and to hear from everybody. And when you hear allegations that people are told not to talk, I would hope those issues would come out and if that's the case we should be held accountable."

133 More Suspects Arrested in Boston for Harboring-Aiding Suspects after Bombings(L to R) Azamat Tazhayakov & Dias Kadyrbayev, roommates of Dzhokhar TsarnaevThree more suspects were taken into custody today in connection with the Boston bombings ABC Local reported: The Boston Police Department says three additional suspects have been taken in to custody in the Marathon bombing investigation. Police did not provide any additional information, saying only that “details would follow.”More… The THREE SUSPECTS WERE ARRESTED FOR HARBORING/AIDING BOSTON MARATHOJN BOMBING SUSPECTS AFTER THE FACT. WILL BE FEDERAL CHARGES. CBS.UPDATE: The three people were connected to Dzokhar Tsarnaev, 19, the surviving bomb suspect, at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where Tsarnaev was a student. They allegedly helped him after the bombing, a different source told the Globe.UPDATE: Azamat Tazhayakov and Dias Kadyrbayev from Kazakhstan were classmates of bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. They posed with him in Times Square.New Boston Suspects Drove Black BMW with ‘Terrorista #1´ License Plate

The Third Alleged Accomplice Accused of Aiding Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Is Robel Phillipos The third alleged accomplice accused of aiding Dzhokhar Tsarnaev after the Boston bombings has been identified as Robel Phillipos, reports NBC News.He's the only American among the alleged accomplices, the other two being Kazakh nationals who were previously detained on immigration charges. While he is charged with making false statements, the other two are charged with disposing of a backpack full of emptied fireworks tubes that they found in Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's dorm room.Here's what we know so far about Phillipos... ● He Allegedly Lied to the FedsPhillipos is charged with making false statements to federal agents investigating the Boston bombings. He allegedly lied by denying that he and other alleged accomplices visited Tsarnaev's dorm room on the night of April 18. For this charge he could face up to eight years in prison. He's not charged with obstruction of justice, as the two other alleged accomplices are — for allegedly disposing of a backpack full of fireworks, emptied of their gun powder. ● Phillipos' parents came to the U.S. from Ethiopia and raised him in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The 19-year-old attended UMass-Dartmouth, beginning in the same year as his friend Tsarnaev. ● He Claims the Fireworks Disappeared While he Was Taking a Nap ● Judging by this account, Phillipos is a marketing student. ● It was Phillipos who first recognized Dzhkokar Tsarneav's photo on the TV news and pointed it out to his friend, telling him to turn on the TV news.

NEWSBOY POST CONNECTS THE DOTS!!!DON'T EXPECT MSM TO DO ANYTHING!!!

BOMBSHELL EXCLUSIVE: Saudi Arabia 'Warned the United States IN WRITING About Boston Bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev in 2012'Sis, how many millions will the dinosaur media charge to cover-up this one?

■ Saudis developed intelligence separately from Russia, which also warned the U.S. about the accused Boston bomber ■ A letter to the Department of Homeland Security allegedly named Tsarnaev and three Pakistanis as potential jihadis worthy of U.S. investigation ■ Red flags from Saudi Arabia to have included Tsarnaev's name and information about a planned explosive attack on a major U.S. city ■ Saudi foreign minister, national security chief both met with Obama in the oval office in early 2013

UK's Daily Mail -- By David Martosko and The American Media Institute -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia sent a written warning about accused Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in 2012, long before pressure-cooker blasts killed three and maimed hundreds, according to a senior Saudi government official with direct knowledge of the document.The Saudi warning, the official told MailOnline, was separate from the multiple red flags raised by Russian intelligence in 2011, and was based on human intelligence developed independently in Yemen. Citing security concerns, the Saudi government also denied an entry visa to the elder Tsarnaev brother in December 2011, when he hoped to make a pilgrimage to Mecca. Tsarnaev's plans to visit Saudi Arabia have not been previously disclosed.Was it preventable? A senior Saudi official says his country warned the U.S. about Tamerlane Tsarnaev in 2012, advising the federal government that he planned an attack on a major U.S. city.Did she know? Janet Napolitano sits atop the Department of Homeland Security, the agency that allegedly received a detailed letter from the Saudi kingdom about Tsarnaev and three Pakistani jihadis.The Saudis' warning to the U.S. government was also shared with the British government. 'It was very specific’ and warned that 'something was going to happen in a major U.S. city,' the Saudi official said during an extensive interview. It 'did name Tamerlan specifically,' he added. Continued >>

Update: Al Qaeda Magazine Found on Laptop of Bomber's Widow . . . Traces of Explosive Residue Found Throughout Her HomeFederal officials investigating the Boston bombings have discovered radical Islamist materials on a computer belonging to the widow of the deceased suspect, it has been revealed. Katherine Russell, 24, has repeatedly claimed through her attorney that she knew nothing about the deadly April 15 bombings allegedly set off by her late husband, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and his younger brother, Dzhokhar. However, the discovery of al Qaeda’s Inspire magazine on Russell’s computer. Update: 'Jihadi Bomber' Died of Blunt Trauma after His ´Brother Ran Him Over´ and Several Gunshot WoundsSuspected Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev died from gunshot wounds and blunt trauma to his head and torso, a funeral home revealed today. Worcester funeral home owner Peter Stefan who´s holding the body of 26-year-old Tamerlan Tsarnaev read the details from his death certificate on Friday. The certificate cites Tsarnaev´s ´gunshot wounds of torso and extremities,´ Stefan said. Tsarnaev died last month after a gunfight with authorities a few days after the deadly marathon bombing. Police have said he ran out of ammunition before his younger brother brutally dragged his body under a vehicle while fleeing the scene. Continued >>Update: Bombing Suspects Had Originally Planned for July 4 AttackThe suspected bombers in the Boston Marathon attack had originally intended for the plot to happen on July 4th, CBS News has learned.According to CBS News correspondent John Miller, a U.S. official confirmed that detained suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev told authorities that the bombing was supposed to take place on the Fourth of July. The actual attack took place on April 15.The official also said that Tsarnaev revealed that the bombs were constructed at his older brother Tamerlan's residence and that Tamerlan had brought Dzhokhar into the plot a couple of months before.The official noted that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev had said different things at different times and that it is all subject to investigation.In other news, the body of Tamerlan Tsarnaev has been claimed. Massachusetts Department of Public Safety spokesman Terrel Harris says a funeral home retained by Tsarnaev's family picked up his body Thursday. He has no more information.The medical examiner determined Tsarnaev's cause of death Monday, but officials said it won't become public until his remains are released and a death certificate is filed. It was unclear on Thursday evening whether the death certificate had been filed. Continued >>Update: Bombing Suspects' Laptop Could Contain 'Jackpot of Intelligence'A laptop tied to the Boston bombing suspects has been recovered and could provide important clues as authorities look into how the suspects were radicalized."The laptop could be critical in learning how they became radicalized and how they learned to make the bombs," Bender says. "(Investigators believe the suspects) became more religious, they became more inspired to do this attack through internet sites, perhaps by communicating with some jihadists overseas."Jared Stern is the president of Prudential Associates, an investigations and digital forensics company in Rockville, Md. He is not working on the Boston case, but says it's not overly dramatic to say the laptop could provide a "jackpot of intelligence acquisition." "Let's face it, there is everything in the universe potentially on that drive," Stern told WTOP on Thursday."For over 99 percent of the population, it is nearly impossible to cloak your historic activities on your computer completely. You can do things and probably make a dent in it. But the forensic tools available to investigators these days are so powerful, you would have to engage in full-volume encryption all day every day -- you almost couldn't have a job." Continued >>Update: The Canadian Boxer and the Terror Recruiter Who 'Led Tsarnaev on Path to Jihad'By Tom Parfitt (Moscow) -- A Canadian boxer who was killed while fighting with jihadists in Russia has emerged as a key contact who may have set the elder Boston bomber on his path to violent extremism.In what could be a breakthrough in the attempt to understand how Tamerlan Tsarnaev – himself a skilled boxer – became radicalised and turned to violence, Moscow's respected Novaya Gazeta newspaper revealed his links with William Plotnikov, who was killed in a battle with security forces in the troubled southern Russian republic of Dagestan last year.During his visit to Dagestan last year, Tsarnaev also met on several occasions a terrorist of mixed Dagestani and Palestinian parentage, who was being closely watched by the Russian security services. That man, Makhmud Mansur Nidal, had been under surveillance for six months as a suspected recruiter for Islamist insurgents fighting Moscow's rule in the region. Continued >>Update: U.S. Should Have Given the Jihadi Family $100,000 and Told Them to Stay Put in ChechnyaBy Chris Cassidy -- The Tsarnaev family, including the suspected terrorists and their parents, benefited from more than $100,000 in taxpayer-funded assistance — a bonanza ranging from cash and food stamps to Section 8 housing from 2002 to 2012, the Herald has learned. “The breadth of the benefits the family was receiving was stunning,” said a person with knowledge of documents handed over to a legislative committee today.The state has handed over more than 500 documents to the 11-member House Post Audit and Oversight Committee, which today met for the first time and plans to call in officials from the Department of Transitional Assistance to testify.“I can assure members of the public that this committee will actively review every single piece of information we can find because clearly the public has a substantial right to know what benefits, if any, this family or individuals accused of some horrific crimes were receiving,” said state Rep. David Linsky (D-Natick), the committee’s chairman. Continued >>Update: Katherine Russell Tsarnaev Under Scrutiny after Female DNA Found on Boston BombBy Michael Daly -- When it received the bomb fragments from the attack on the Boston Marathon, the Terrorist Explosive Devices Analytical Center had processed more than 80,000 IEDs from the overseas war on terror. As they so often had with IED pieces recovered in Iraq and Afghanistan, the TEDAC technicians subjected the fragments from this domestic bombing to a series of forensic tests that included DNA. The surprise, first reported by The Wall Street Journal, came when TEDAC discovered female DNA on a fragment of a device that supposedly had been assembled and planted by the Tsarnaev brothers and nobody else. Continued >>Update: ‘Misha’ Speaks: An Interview with the Alleged Boston Bomber’s ‘Svengali’By Christian Caryl (The New York Review of Books) -- Today I was able to meet “Misha,” whose real name is Mikhail Allakhverdov. Having been referred by a family in Boston that was close to the Tsarnaevs, I found Allakverdov at his home in Rhode Island, in a lower middle class neighborhood, where he lives in modest, tidy apartment with his elderly parents. He confirmed he was a convert to Islam and that he had known Tamerlan Tsarnaev, but he flatly denied any part in the bombings. “I wasn’t his teacher. If I had been his teacher, I would have made sure he never did anything like this,” Allakhverdov said. Continued >>Update: FBI Closing in on 'Misha': Agents Identify Mysterious Man Allegedly Behind Tsarnaev RadicalizationA man known as “Misha,” who is suspected of being the person who radicalized Boston Marathon bomber Tamerlan Tsarnaev, has apparently been identified by the FBI. Misha, a red-bearded, 30-ish Armenian-American Christian who had converted to Islam, apparently became the Rasputin-like figure who spent hours indoctrinating Tsarnaev, once even visiting the family home. Tsarnaev’s uncle, Ruslan Tsami said: “It started in 2009. And it started right there, in Cambridge. This person just took his brain. He just brainwashed him completely.” After being swayed by Misha, Tsarnaev stopped his plans to attend music school saying Islam frowned on music, and gave up boxing. Continued >>Update: Russia Recorded Call Between Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Mother Discussing Jihad, Failed to Tell FBIRussian authorities secretly recorded one of the Boston bombers discussing jihad with his mother in 2011 but failed to alert U.S. security agencies, a report claims today. U.S. officials were told for the first time this week that two calls of note were discovered when the Russian internal security service, the RSB, were bugging calls at the Tsarnaevs family home in Dagestan, according to reports. The recording picked up a 'vague conversation' about jihad between either Dzhokhar or Tamerlan Tsarnaev and their mother Zubeidat, the Associated Press reported. It also picked up a phone call between the bombers' mother and a man under FBI investigation living in Southern Russia.Update: U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers: 'More Arrests Expected, I Don’t Think This is Over’U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers (R), chairman the House Committee on Intelligence, said yesterday he expects the feds to make more arrests in their ever-widening probe of the deadly Boston Marathon bombings. “I hear a lot of definitive statements out there that it was just these two men and it’s over, but I will tell you I hear these briefings every day, and I don’t think this is over,” he said.´LOL THOSE PEOPLE ARE COOKED´ Tweeted the Surviving Islamic TerroristJust hours after the bombings, Dzhokhar ´Jahar´ Tsarnaev, the angelic-looking jihadist as depicted by MainStreamMedia's use of an old photo; joked about the fate of victims of the explosions on his Twitter account as he engaged in banter with a friend, making light of the deadly explosions that killed three and injured more than 260. In one of his many tweets, the college sophomore wrote, ´Lol those people are cooked´ likely in reference to a since deleted conversation about the events unfolding in Boston. Continued >>FBI: The Jihadi Brothers' Bombs Showed “Additional Training or Expertise”The Jihadi Brothers, Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev

By Ed Morrissey -- The media theory over the last several days about the Boston Marathon bombing is that the pressure-cooker design came straight off the Internet and didn’t require any specific training. That assumption ignores a couple of key points even if the bomb design matched those readily available on jihadi websites, such as practice and testing, of which so far the FBI has found no evidence in the U.S.Second, any deviation from those designs would entirely negate that kind of “lone wolf” scenario — and according to the Wall Street Journal, the FBI now believes that Tamerlan Tsarnaev had to have received assistance and/or training for the designs he used: ■ A Federal Bureau of Investigation analysis of the bombs used in the Boston Marathon attacks has concluded that makers of the devices had some knowledge beyond the step-by-step recipes already described by the surviving suspect in the attack. ■ Dzhokhar Tsarnaev has told interrogators that he and his brother used bomb-making instructions found in Inspire, an online al Qaeda magazine, according to federal officials. His brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the other accused bomber, was killed during a gunfight with police in Watertown, Mass. ■ The FBI’s bomb experts analyzed remnants of both bombs that exploded on April 15 near the marathon’s finish line, as well as additional explosive devices that authorities said were recovered after the encounter with the suspects early on April 19. ■ Their early conclusion is that the bomb makers likely had additional training or expertise, in part because they deviated from two recipes in Inspire, according to a report prepared by the Terrorist Explosive Device Analytical Center and law-enforcement officials briefed on the investigation.The analysis also determined that the explosives used were “consistent with commercial fireworks,” said the report, which was reviewed by The Wall Street Journal. Officials cautioned that the analysis was preliminary.Boston PD found a cache of discarded fireworks on Wednesday night, many with the gunpowder removed. That would connect with the design of the bomb, although investigators have yet to link the find directly to the Tsarnaevs — yet, anyway.This does, however, point up the importance of finding what the Tsarnaevs preferred to throw away. With one of the bombing suspects dead and the other in a prison hospital facility, investigators of the Boston Marathon terrorist attack have access to the possessions of the two Tsarnaevs. What about those items that left their possession just before the bombing? CBS News’ John Miller updated viewers on the investigation and reported that FBI agents are now searching for laptops that the two brothers discarded shortly before conducting their attack: ■ FBI agents picked through a landfill near the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, where 19-year-old suspect, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, was a sophomore. ■ On “CBS This Morning: Saturday,” CBS News senior correspondent John Miller, a former assistant FBI director, reports the agents were looking for a couple of laptop computers that belonged to the suspects. ■ “One of the things in these terrorism cases, particularly, Margaret, where the issue is how did a process of radicalization occur, a lot of that occurs online,” Miller told CBS News correspondent Margaret Brennan, “particularly where they want to know was anyone else involved, was there a mastermind, was he communicating with someone overseas about it.” ■ Miller reports that investigators believe those answers are likely to be found in the computers. ■ “They believe that what they learned from the brother was that the computer was tossed just before the bombing mission, probably to conceal all that, so they’d really like to get it back,” Miller said.Earlier, we noted the FBI’s landfill search, which was reported in the context of looking for staging areas for bomb tests. This adds another level of interest in landfills, but the FBI will need a lot of luck in finding evidence in either effort.The search began, apparently, when Dzhokhar admitted discarding the laptops, and presumably they have a good idea where that took place. Still, actually finding the laptops would still be a challenge, and it’s at least a good possibility that the two were technically adept enough to destroy the hard drives before discarding the computers.Speaking of technology, it’s not just discarded physical assets that investigators want to find. The FBI has found the little-known Instagram account of Dzhokhar, and preliminary information shows that he was very interested in a dead Chechen warlord and terrorist leader: ■ Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s Twitter account and VK Russian social networking profile have drawn heavy public scrutiny, but he left another, more hidden social media trail: a deleted Instagram account that sources close to him tell CNN once belonged to the accused Boston bomber. ■ The Instagram account, with the user name “jmaister1,” no longer exists, and friends of Tsarnaev say it was deleted only recently. An Instagram spokesman declined to comment on the account or disclose when the account was deleted. ■ CNN National Security Analyst Juliette Kayyem says the account could be significant. ■ “If I were an investigator right now, obviously the platform he deleted matters the most,” she said.Indeed. The last activity they have found (so far) before Dzhokhar deleted the account took place on April 10th, when “jmaister1″ liked a picture and profile of Shamil Basayev, a long-dead Chechen warlord and terrorist. Among other items on Basayev’s resumé is the Beslan massacre, in which more than 380 people were killed, most of them schoolchildren, and hundreds more wounded.Basayev financed and organized the terrorist attack, later bragging that it had only cost him 8,000 rubles for the whole operation. Russians put a $10 million bounty on Basayev’s head; he later died when a mine he was inspecting detonated unexpectedly. The FSB insinuated that they had a hand in the detonation.As Kayyem correctly points out, the fact that Dzhokhar had an Instagram account is interesting, and his “like” of Basayev intriguing. Far more interesting is what they haven’t found — and why Dzhokhar went out of his way between April 10th and April 14th to delete the account. Finding their discards might end up being the quickest path to understanding the true nature of the bombers and the bombing.

Plot Thickens in Saudi National Case, and Where in the Hell is Abdul Rahman Alharbi?By Arnold Ahlert -- Radio talk show host Glenn Beck is continuing to investigate Abdul Rahman Alharbi, the Saudi national initially identified as a “person of interest” in the Boston Marathon bombing atrocity.And while many on the left are ridiculing Beck’s efforts, it is difficult to dismiss the possibility that some kind of deception is being perpetrated by the Obama administration. As the rest of the media remain silent, Beck continues to release almost daily a slew of troubling revelations backed by solid evidence.On Monday night, the radio host made no bones about where he stands. “You want to know why we have terror over and over in our streets?” Beck asked. “Saudi Arabia. It is time someone on network television says it.” He also took the media to task. “We let everyone have all of the other information because we care more about the truth, more about you getting the news,” he said. “There is not ever going to be a member of CAIR crossing this threshold to have a private meeting with me to tell me exactly what would be in my best interest. I’m not taking the meeting. We move differently here.We are an American network, owned by an American. I am sick and tired of being told there is nothing left to see, move along,” Beck elaborated, noting that since he owns the Blaze network, he is beholden to no outside interests, or foreign (read Saudi) money.On Tuesday, DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano added fuel to Beck’s fire. Napolitano, who refused to answer any questions about Alharbi immediately following the terror attack, engaged in this somewhat Orwellian exchange with Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA). “With regard to the Saudi student, was he on a watchlist, and if so, how did he obtain a student visa?” Grassley asked. Napolitano firmly responded, “He was not on a watch list. What happened is—this student was, really when you back it out, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He was never a subject. He was never even really a person of interest. Because he was being interviewed, he was at that point put on a watch list, and then when it was quickly determined he had nothing to do with the bombing, the watch listing status was removed.”Beck kept up the pressure on Tuesday as well. He said that “more attention should be paid” to Alharbi, based on information he claims was given to him by government officials “at the highest levels,” some of whom have been “threatened with twenty years in prison…to get this information to you.” Beck dropped another bombshell on his show that night. He told his audience the DHS has “no idea” where Alharbi is currently located. He further noted that Alharbi’s student visa “only permits him to be attending school in Findlay, Ohio, but he never enrolled.”This latter revelation is troubling. As the Boston Herald reported on April 18, “FBI and ATF agents, along with Boston cops, swarmed the 22-year-old man’s Ocean Avenue apartment Monday night, grilling his roommate for hours and removing several items in evidence bags.” Thus, some obvious questions arise. Why was a man who was supposed to be enrolled at a college in Ohio, living in an apartment in Boston? What has happened to the bags of evidence removed from his apartment? Furthermore, as Beck reasonably concluded, how can Napolitano possibly assert that Alharbi was never even a person of interest, given these two revelations?Fox News’s Todd Starnes added to the controversy. He reported that Alharbi “had been flagged on a terror watch list and was granted a student visa without being properly vetted.” Starnes went further. “A source close to the investigation revealed that Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi had been deemed inadmissible under the section of the Immigration and Nationality Act which declares ineligible for a visa—any alien who is engaged in or is likely to engage after entry—in terrorist activity.”Yesterday, Beck put far more credence behind the reality that Napolitano is utterly disingenuous and Starnes is onto something. After beginning with a brief review of the timeline during which Alharbi went from a “person of interest, to witness, to victim, to nobody,” the radio host presented information obtained by what The Blaze website described as a source who “directly read the original event file, and multiple government sources with knowledge of the case and files (who) contributed their knowledge.”In short, Beck had allegedly obtained a copy of the original event file.It was filled with bombshell after bombshell. It revealed that Alharbi was “armed and dangerous,” admitted to the country under “special advisory option usually reserved for visiting politicians, VIPs, or journalists,” and that he was granted his status “without a full vetting.” Moreover, despite officials explaining that Alharbi’s once pending deportation was due to an expired visa, the event file reveals his visa is good until 2016. It further reveals that he was admitted to the country in Boston, even as it says he is a student at the University of Findlay, in Findlay, Ohio.Beck went further still. “When a file is created in the system, the author(s) are notified via email when it is accessed and given the email address of the person accessing, so there is a record within the government data system of who was there,” he noted. “It was amended to remove the deportation reference, then someone later went in and tried to destroy both the original event file and an amended versions. We won’t say who at this time, but copies have already been made,” he warned.Beck explained to his audience that an event file is part of the Patriot Act, and that the designation 212 3B given to “a Saudi in the hospital” means that “you were a terrorist, you we’re engaged in terrorism, or you are about to be engaged in terrorism.” Beck further notes that once someone is designated in such a manner, “it is extraordinarily difficult to put it in, and you do not put it in, and then take it off.” According to Beck, only officials at the State Department or the National Counterterrorism Center are capable of revoking the designation.The cover of the event file contained equally important information, including that fact that Alharbi was “an exact match” to “No Fly subject TPN#1037506192,” and that “derogatory information” reviewed and approved by two high level agents, Chief Watch Commander Maimbourg and Watch Commander Mayfield, “was found to be sufficient to request a Visa revocation.”Then came the most damming revelation of all. “Subject has One (1) prior event #1648067.” “That means this guy doesn’t have one event,” Beck explained. “When they opened this at the hospital they found, he’s already in the system. He’s already a 212 3B. He has another terrorist event under his belt.”In closing, Beck excoriated the mainstream media. “This is what’s happening in our country. We have a media that is so out of control, that they will destroy anyone who stands up and says, ‘Americans are in danger. By both parties, by all people involved. It is not an American that is doing this, it is an American that is protecting the country that is shipping terror into our country.”He also addressed the public. “I want you to know you should have great hope. You should have great pride. There are people who are risking everything to bring you this information. They are stunned and angry at how many journalists will not report this story. There are other journalists that have actually filed reports, and the corner offices…have spiked them with no reason given.”“I will tell you that CAIR, the Muslim Brotherhood and this administration play for keeps. Anybody who reports on this information is in danger…”Beck’s revelations will undoubtedly be taken seriously by some, and completely dismissed by others, mostly in the mainstream media and progressive circles. But there is one question Beck asks for which every concerned American should demand an answer from this administration:Where is Abdul Rahman Alharbi?

Glenn Beck’s Latest Revelations on Saudi National Once a ‘Person of Interest’ in Boston BombingsWhat in the Hell Is Michelle Obama Doing Visiting Saudi That Is 'On the Terrorist Watch List'By Erica Ritz (The Blaze) -- For the past week, Glenn Beck has been investigating a Saudi national once identified as a "person of interest" in the Boston Marathon bombing. The story has taken a number of alarming twists and turns, but on his radio program Wednesday, Beck released some of the most interesting information yet.But first, here are a few background points on how the case developed:■ A Saudi national originally identified as a "person of interest" in the Boston Marathon bombing was set to be deported under section 212, 3B -- "Security and related grounds" -- "Terrorist activities" after the bombing on April 15■ TheBlaze received word that the government may not deport the Saudi national -- identified as Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi -- as the story gained traction on April 18.■ Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano refused to answer questions on the subject by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC) on Capitol Hill on April 18, saying the inquiry was "so full of misstatements and misapprehension that it's just not worthy of an answer."■ An ICE official said April 18 that a different Saudi national is in custody, but that he is "in no way" connected to the bombings.■ Key congressmen of the Committee on Homeland Security request a classified briefing with Napolitano on April 22■ New info provided to TheBlaze reveals Alharbi's file was altered on the evening of April 17 to disassociate him from the initial charges■ Sources say April 22 that the Saudi's student visa specifically allows him to go to school in Findlay, Ohio, though he appears to have an apartment in Boston, Massachusetts. A DHS official told TheBlaze Alharbi properly transferred his student visa to a school in Massachusetts

On his radio program, Beck began with an overview of how the case unfolded, noting that Alharbi has rapidly gone from "person of interest, to witness, to victim, to nobody."Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano even said yesterday that Alharbi was just "in the wrong place at the wrong time" and was "never a subject," after ridiculing inquiries into the matter last week.But Wednesday, Beck presented new information after a Blaze source directly read the original event file, and multiple government sources with knowledge of the case and files contributed their knowledge.Napolitano could serve "jail time for perjury," Beck declared, and she will be "the first to fall."Here are a couple of new points, as Beck related them:

■ At the time the event file was created for Abdul Rahman Ali Alharbi, it indicated he was "armed and dangerous"■ Alharbi was admitted into the country under a "special advisory option," which is usually reserved for visiting politicians, VIPs, or journalists. The event file cover page indicates he was granted his status without full vetting.■ One of the first excuses given by law enforcement when confronted about Alharbi's pending deportation was an expired visa. But according to the event file, his visa is good until 11-NOV-2016.■ The event file indicates he entered the U.S. on 08/28/12 in Boston, MA but says he is a student at the University of Findlay, in Findlay, Ohio. He has an apartment in Boston, and doesn't seem to have been a full-time student in Ohio.■ When a file is created in the system the author(s) are notified via email when it is accessed, and given the email address of the person accessing, so there is a record within the government data system of who deleted them. It was amended to remove the deportation reference, then someone later went in and tried to destroy both the original event file and an amended versions.■ Copies had already been made.■ The original event file was reviewed and approved by two high level agents - Chief Watch Commander Maimbourg and Watch Commander Mayfield.Certainly, a litany of questions remain.Was Alharbi considered "armed and dangerous" before the Boston bombing, or at it? Was it related to something they found at his apartment? Was his prior "event" from the days prior, at the bombing, or was it from an earlier period in his life?Moreover, how was he admitted into the country under a "special advisory option?" How many students receive that privilege, particularly without property security clearance?In Beck's estimation, the entire situation at the least amounts to an alarming lack of transparency, and at the worst, an abuse of power and cover-up."This is not about this one guy," Beck noted, "but by the way -- where is this extraordinarily dangerous man? Ask that question, you're not going to like the answer.""That's what TheBlaze is releasing today," he continued. "Once they explain away all of this, if you want to continue to discredit me, you will discredit yourself but more importantly, you will put the citizens of this country at stake."What in the Hell Was Abdul Rahman Ali Issa Al-Salimi Al-Harbi Doing Visiting the White House Several Times Since 2009HOLY CRAP – Saudi student Abdul Rahman Ali Issa Al-Salimi Al-Harbi was injured in the Boston Marathon Bombings.He was once a “person of interest” in the bombings.He was put on a terror watch list after the bombings.Michelle Obama visited al-Harbi in the hospital last week.He posted pictures on his Facebook page:Then there’s this… Abdul Rahman Al-Harbi has visited the White House several times since 2009.Of course, the White House will say it was another “Abdul Rahman Al-Harbi.”

Crickets fromABCBSNBCNNYTWPBSNPRLAT!!!Crazy Joe Biden should be warming up in the bullpen!!!

Terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Captured Alive

Viewing Photo of Dead Suspect Cathartic for SomeLaw Enforcement OfficersHis mouth is agape. His face is awash in blood. On his right side is a wide gash where doctors cut him open to try to start his heart and save his life.The image of Tamerlan Tsarnaev, dead and naked on a slab, snapped by an unknown person, was emailed repeatedly by law enforcement officers Friday morning."Suspect 1" was written above the gruesome picture.Seeing a photo of one of the Marathon bombing suspects dead was cathartic, said one law enforcement official who saw the picture. Continuedsuspect 1 dead | pictures of dead suspect 1 | suspect 1 dead photoWARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC!!!!Terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev Dead PHOTO 1|Terrorist Tamerlan Tsarnaev Dead PHOTO 2

How doctor's daughter became the Muslim convert widow of Boston bomber: Terrorist husband 'brainwashed' her and she gave up her dreams of college to have his baby at 21Katherine Russell Tsarnaev — Jihadi's wife/widow■ Schoolfriend tells MailOnline how Katherine Russell had dreams of joining the Peace Corps - but was 'totally transformed' by Tamerlan Tsarnaev■ 'She was this All-American girl who was brainwashed by her super-religious husband. Nobody understands what happened'''

UK's Daily Mail -- Katherine Russell, the widow of Boston bomb suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, was 'an all-American girl who was brainwashed' by her extremist husband according to one schoolfriend.Today MailOnline has gained the first glimpse and pictures of the early life of the woman who, according to those who knew her best, was 'totally transformed' by Tsarnaev.At high school her personal motto was 'Do something about it or stop complaining'. She dreamed of going to college and joining the Peace Corps.She urged her friends to 'lighten up and enjoy the small things,' in life.Instead she met Tsarneav, 26, a disenfranchised man who came to America from his troubled homeland of Chechnya who rapidly had her in his thrall.By the time she was 21 she had married him and borne his child, Zahara, now three. She had converted to Islam, hidden her tumble of chestnut hair beneath the hijab and undergone a change so profound that today few friends profess to truly understand it.Yesterday Katherine, who has been staying at her parents’ home in Rhode Island, returned to the Cambridge, Massachusetts home which she shared with her late husband.Dressed in a leopard print hijab she darted into the white shingle house to collect some belongings and her pet cat while her daughter waited in the car. Continued

ABC Report: Boston Bombing Terrorist Dzhokhar Tsarnaev Is Responding to Questions in WritingBoston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is awake and responding sporadically in writing to questions, authorities said. Investigators are asking about other cell members and other unexploded bombs, law enforcement sources told ABC News.Previously officials said Tsarnaev was in no condition to be interrogated.Tsarnaev, 19, is being treated at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston, where he is listed in serious but stable condition, with wounds to the neck and throat area, according to sources.The bombing killed three, including a young boy, and wounded about 170. An MIT officer was allegedly killed by Tsarnaev and his brother Tamerlan and a Boston transit cop was badly wounded in a subsequent shootout.The FBI is still collecting evidence from the Monday's blast site, mainly from the sides of buildings and the bleachers.Boston Police Commissioner Ed Davis in a news conference Sunday that the circuit board to at least one of the bombs had wires crudely soldered to it and is confident ATF agents will put that bomb back together piece by piece and tell us what it was made of.Engineers are also checking the structural integrity of buildings near the scene before it fully reopens. Boston Police plan to start returning personal items to people who left behind their things on Monday.Boston Mayor Thomas Menino said it is time for the city to move forward. "I'm working hard over the last several days develop a plan to reopen Boyleston Street now the most famous street in the world," Menino said at the Sunday news conference.

FBI Hunting 12-Strong Terrorist "Sleeper Cell" Linked to Brothers Tamerlan and DzhokharUK's Daily Mirror -- The FBI was last night hunting a 12-strong terrorist “sleeper cell” linked to the Boston marathon bomb brothers. Police believe Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were specially trained to carry out the devastating attack. More than 1,000 FBI agents were last night working to track down the cell and arrested a man and two women 60 miles from Boston in the hours before Dzhokhar’s dramatic capture after a bloody shootout on Friday. A source close to the investigation said: “We have no doubt the brothers were not acting alone. The devices used to detonate the two bombs were highly sophisticated and Continued

‘BARACK YOU MY DAWG’: Election Tweets and Retweets from Jihadi Dzhokhar Tsarnaev's AccountMultiple news outlets are reporting that @J_tsar is the Twitter handle of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, suspect in the Boston Marathon bombing. As Twitchy reported, the tweets on the account are chilling and one appears to indicate he was a 9/11 truther (something his aunt might endorse). Tweets and retweets sent from the account on Nov. 6 and 7 seem to suggest Tsarnaev was disenchanted with politics, but supportive of Obama and pleased with the president’s victory.So … your average right-wing Tea Party type -- NOT!! The Democrats and their MainStreamMedia accomplices are not happy!Continued >>

Surveillance Image of the Boston Suspect Moments Right Before He Was Captured Moments before he was captured by authorities Friday night, this is a surveillance image of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, as he was climbing out of the boat where he had likely been hiding for hours. It appears dummy rounds were used so Tsarnaev would use up his remaining ammo, allowing him to be taken alive.

Amazing New Details from the Chase for the Boston BombersThe police chief of the Watertown police department shares amazing new details of the chase for the Boston bombings suspects from Thursday night into Friday evening:The police chief, Edward Deveau, describes how cops nearly apprehended the older suspect, and were placing handcuffs on him in the middle of the street Thursday night, when the younger suspect came at officers in a carjacked SUV.The cops were able "to dive out of the way," and the younger suspect then continued to drive directly over his brother and dragging him through the street. That's how the older suspect died, according to the police chief.The younger suspect eventually dumped the SUV and ran into the darkness of the night, according to the police chief. It took nearly 18 hours and massive manhunt to find the younger suspect. He gave himself up after a 20-minute negotiation with the FBI, he said, but not before the suspect fired more rounds at the authorities.The bombers were armed with "pipe bombs and explosives," some of which appear to have been homemade hand-grenades. They had "at least 6 bombs, if you will," says the chief. They also had a some guns.The chief also says that "there was a major explosion in the middle of the gun fight" between officers and the suspects, Thursday night, when a pressure cooker bomb, like the ones used in the Boston Marathon bombings, went off in the residential area. The interview with the police chief took place today on CNN.

What We Know About Boston Marathon Bomb Suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan TsarnaevMultiple sources have identified Dzhokhar A. Tsarnaev, 19, as the remaining suspect in the Boston marathon bombings.His brother, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, 26, has been identified as the first suspect and died overnight following a firefight with police.NBC News' Pete Williams said earlier Friday morning that the two suspects likely had "foreign military training," and had been in the country for about a year.Later he said they were brothers, and added, "They were legal permanent residents. They were in this country legally, at least a year. They appear to be from Turkey, possibly Chechens from Turkey. That seems to be the nationality here." [That would likely make them Sunni Muslims, the dominant sect from that area]Just before 7 a.m. Friday morning, the Associated Press confirmed Williams' reporting and naming Tsarnaev. Born July 22, 1993, according to Williams, Tsarnaev attended Cambridge Rindge and Latin School and has a Massachusetts drivers' license.The brother, although NBC initially reported he was 20, was 26 and named Tamerlan Tsarnaev. He died overnight in the firefight with police, suffering from "blast and potentially gunshot wounds ...probably a blast injury [and] possibly shrapnel" throughout his trunk. h/t BuzzFeed.comMother Jones: Dead Chechen Jihadist Tamerlan Tsarnaev Posted Video on Al Qaeda Prophecy on His YouTube PageThe deceased suspect in the bombing of the Boston marathon, which killed three and injured more than 170, appears to have posted a video extolling an extremist religious prophecy associated with Al Qaeda to his YouTube page. Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the 26 year-old brother of the second Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, had a YouTube page where he posted religious videos, including a video of Feiz Mohammad, a fundamentalist Australian Muslim preacher who rails against the evils of Harry Potter. Among those videos is one dedicated to the prophecy of the Black Banners of Khurasan which is embraced by Islamic extremists — particularly Al Qaeda. Continued >>Dead Terrorist: "I don’t have a single American friend, I don’t understand them" — UPDATE: Dzhokar’s website linked Islamist sites; UPDATE: Tamerlan pushed AQ ProphecyTamerlan Tsarnaev died in a shootout with Boston police earlier this morning, perhaps killed by bullets, his own IED, or the fact that his brother Dzhokar reportedly drove over him in order to plow through a police barricade after the shootout. He will live on in a photo essay taken when he competed in Golden Glove boxing. The accompanying interview raised at least a yellow flag about the isolation of Tsarnaev from his community in the essay titled “Will Box for Passport”:Tamerlan, who studies at Bunker Hill Community College in Boston and wants to become an engineer, took the semester off from school to train for the competition.Tamerlan fled Chechnya with his family because of the conflict in the early 90s, and lived for years in Kazakhstan before getting to the United States as a refugee.Originally from Chechnya, but living in the United States since five years, Tamerlan says: “I don’t have a single American friend, I don’t understand them.”If he wins enough fights… Tamerlan says he could be selected for the US Olympic team and be naturalized American. Unless his native Chechnya becomes independent, Tamerlan says he would rather compete for the United States than for Russia.Tamerlan says he doesn’t drink or smoke anymore: “God said no alcohol.” A muslim, he says: “There are no values anymore,” and worries that “people can’t control themselves.” Continued >>Islamist Terrorists' Momma Was Arrested for Shoplifting Last Year
A woman believed to be the mother of Boston bombing suspects Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev was arrested last year for shoplifting at a Cambridge Lord & Taylor department store, according to a police briefing in the Natick Patch. Here's the June 13, 2012 report from the Natick Police: 7:42 p.m.: Loss prevention from Lord & Taylor called to report they had detained a shoplifter. Zubeidat K. Tsarnaeva, 45, of 410 Norfolk St., Apt. 3, Cambridge, was arrested and charged with larceny over $250. Continued >>Islamist Terrorists' Daddy Warns: ' Hell Will Break Loose' if Son DiesThe father of suspected Boston Marathon bomber called on his son today to give up peacefully, but warned the U.S. that if his son is killed "all hell will break loose." Anzor Tsarnaev spoke to ABC News from his home in the Russian city of Makhachkala as Boston police carried out an intense dragnet for his son Dzhokhar Tsarnaev. Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, 19, survived a running gun battle with police during the night that left an MIT security officer dead and a Boston cop badly wounded. His older brother died in the shootout. Continued >>Jihadi Bombers ("Sweet Boys") Were Members of Wahhabi Cell Funded by Saudi Al QaedaTwo Chechen brothers from Dagestan, members of a Wahhabi cell funded by Saudi al Qaeda, were identified as the terrorists who detonated two bombs at the Boston Marathon last Monday and carried out a bombing-shooting spree at the MIT campus in Waterton outside Boston, Friday, April 19, in which a police officer was killed in a fiery firefight. The media is criminally silent on this. Instead they are talking about what a "good, sweet boy" he is. Abominable. Two Dagestani brothers nembers of Chechen Wahhabi cell identified as responsible for Boston terror DEBKAfile Special Report April 19, 2013, thanks to Continued >>

Student Who Married Jihadi Tamerlan Tsarnaev and Had Daughter with Him after Converting to Islam at College• Slain Chechen terror suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev was married to middle class college student Katherine Russell, 24.•The couple have a three-year-old daughter called Zahara• Tamerlan spent every weekend with Katherine's family at their suburban Rhode Island home• Bomber's aunt says: 'He has a wife in Boston and from a Christian family, so you can't tie it to religion...he found his love, he married, he had a daughter, and he was very happy about his daughter.' Boston terror suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev has a three-year-old daughter with a middle-class college student who converted to Islam, MailOnline can reveal. Convert: A woman believed Continued >>

A PO'ed Obama Lashes Out: Lyin' Prez Pushing Bogus Statistic Says Gun Lobby ‘Willfully Lied’Watch Unhinged Obama Throw a Tantrum (1:40)Twitchy (w/comments) -- President Obama gave the Senate a scolding in the Rose Garden this afternoon, declaring today’s defeat of the Manchin-Toomey background check amendment “a pretty shameful day for Washington.” He blamed “politics” for the failure of the legislation and, while standing alongside Gabby Giffords and tearful Newtown families, dismissed charges that he had used people as props for “emotional blackmail.” >>>CHEERS! Senate Kills Major Gun LegislationMuch of the drama has already dissipated; most of these amendments will fail. The Toomey/Manchin bipartisan compromise appears to be dead in the water, with Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH) and Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND) pounding home the final legislative nails earlier today. USA Today has a useful primer on what to expect this afternoon and evening, including the items liberals will be watching most carefully: The Public Safety and Second Amendment Rights Protection Act (Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and three co-sponsors): The compromise background check provision expands background checks to gun shows and Internet sales, but exempts family-to-family >>>

Exploitation-Я-Us: Obama Using Newtown CT Familes as 'Human Shields' with Assault Legislation on 2nd Amendment — Nobody Exploits Victims Like the Obamas! Let me see if I’ve got this right: We now know that NoKo has the capacity to put nuclear warheads on missiles (i.e. start WWIII), but Congress is focused on eliminating infringing, or as Obama says, "placing common-sense limitations on American’s 2nd Amendment rights?" I guess that makes sense.First up, Joey Biden, with his own explanation for why people want guns:“It used to be we were dealing almost exclusively with hunters," Biden said. "There’s a whole new sort of group of individuals now who, I don’t know what the numbers are, that never hunt at all, but they own guns for one of two reasons: self protection or they just like the feel of that AR-15 at the range." "They like the way it feels. You know, it’s like driving a Ferrari.”Unfortunately he seems to be getting his bitter-clinger stereotype mixed up with his limousine liberal stereotype.Joey went on to argue for a mandated reduced sized magazine:“If there had only been ten bullets in each clip, [the shooter] would have had to change the clip an additional three to five times," he said. "One of those kids would be alive. Somebody would be alive."I’m not trying to be argumentative here, butt maybe he and Big Guy would be better off just trying to ban magazines altogether. I mean, doesn’t it sound like like they’re arguing that it’s okay to kill 10 people, but anything over that is unacceptable? Where’s the common sense in that?Meanwhile, in Chicago, Lady Moochelle was also busy demonstrating that no one’s too big, no one’s too small to exploit if it’s something we really believe in:She took a rare step for any first lady into the legislative fight of the hour, saying her husband, President Obama, is “fighting as hard as he can, and engaging as many people as he can, to pass common-sense reforms to protect our children from gun violence.” “These reforms deserve a vote in Congress,” she said.Because filibustering is only okay if you are a Democrat, which on it’s face proves that you are representing the majority view of the country, not just getting in the way of it.Note to self: remind Lady Moochelle to register as a lobbyist within 45 days
Hoo-wee! I think Hillary better watch her back. She might just get scooped by another Obama in 2016 – I mean, tears, and everything! This looks like a real throw down from where I’m sitting.But back to the business at hand; as you know, the Senate bowed to MO’s awesomeness and went ahead to pass the gun bill.Anyway, now that Lady Moochelle is an official lobbyist, maybe she could get the Senate to pass the tabled resolution honoring Lady Thatcher, our staunchest ally in the fight against the evil empire. Oh, I forgot; the Dems don’t really believe in fighting evil unless it is the domestic Republican variety.And closing the week on a high note: Look! Lady Moochelle is finally getting the Medal of Honor ceremonial clothing right. Except for the fit of course, and the shoes, but hey! We’ve come a long way baby!Latest Nauseating Stunt: Obama to Hand Mic to Newtown Victim's Mom for Weekly Radio AddressPresident Barack Obama typically gives the talk, focusing on a topic that's in the news or a policy the White House is pushing. This week, Obama has asked Francine Wheeler to deliver the address instead. Wheeler and her husband, David, lost their 6-year-old son Ben in the December schoolhouse shooting in Newtown, Conn.Karl Denninger Rant: Obama And Francine Wheeler's New LowThe Market Ticker -- I rarely go after private citizens in my column. Today I'm going to make an exception and the reason is that this person inserted themselves, on their own volition, into an attempt to violate every man, woman and child's fundamental right to life. By doing so they have turned themselves into public figures and as such lose any such pretense of "privacy" in their opinion nor do they have a legitimate shield from the equally-public response by those who they offend. I speak of Francine Wheeler, specifically, who Obama trotted out this morning like a puppet to try to press for more "gun control." Continued >>

Obama’s Plan Was Hatched at Columbia University!Obama Has His Mission, but Your Mission Is to Survive, Thrive, and Prosper Despite Obama's Destruction

By Wayne Root -- President Obama and I were college classmate at Columbia University, class of ’83. I know all too well how mindlessly liberal the students and faculty of that institution can be, and Barack Obama is certainly no exception. My time at Columbia made it crystal clear: liberals always believe they are morally superior.While they publicly state that their mission is to save the world from prejudice, patriotism, racism, greed, and inequality, they are, in fact, hostile and resentful towards anyone who has achieved self-made success through American values. It is in this cesspool of intolerance that Obama and his Marxist cronies hatched a secret plan to destroy our country.There are two things you need to know about Obama at Columbia University. First, he was Pre Law and a Political Science major- just like me. I thought I knew everyone studying Political Science during my four years at Columbia. Not Obama. I never met him, never saw him, never even heard of him. Strange. Same major, same career path, and graduated on the same day– where was he? Was he busy attending communist party meetings? No need to guess. In his autobiography he proudly admits attending Socialist Party meetings at Cooper Union in downtown Manhattan. He also admits publicly in his own book to not wanting to meet anyone at Columbia who wasn’t black, Hispanic, gay, or a Marxist professor. His words. So it’s possible he was so busy attending communist meetings and trying to avoid guys like me (white, straight, loved America) that our paths never crossed. Unlikely, but possible.But, it’s the second thing you really need to know about Obama at Columbia. He says he graduated Class of ’83. Let’s give him the benefit of the doubt. Well then Obama had to attend the same Political Science classes as me and I can tell you, almost to a man, my classmates in the Class of ’83 proudly called themselves Marxist, communist or socialist. They bragged of being radical like a badge of honor. They openly hated America- calling it racist. They hated capitalism- and vowed to bring “the system down.”In my class the typical Columbia political science student vowed to destroy capitalism, bankrupt business owners, and vaporize what they called “the white power structure.” For the most part these were spoiled brat white students of privilege and power. They were children of wealth, given everything on a silver platter and all they felt was anger and guilt. Their goal was to destroy their own fathers. They talked about it all day long.So let me tell you a story. Back in 1981 I was sitting in a political science class. The president at the time was Ronald Reagan, a man reviled by the left just as viciously as any Republican is today. Suddenly our lecture was interrupted by a door swinging open violently—whereupon a breathless fellow student raced into the room screaming, “The president has been shot! They’ve just assassinated President Reagan.”Ronald Reagan was my hero. The news hit me like a ton of bricks. I instantly felt sick to my stomach, and tears flowed down my cheeks. But it was the response of the rest of the class that I will remember for the rest of my life. They cheered. They clapped, they yelled, they high-fived, and whooped in sheer unadulterated joy.My fellow classmates, the ones I was naively trying so hard to befriend despite their radical leftist views, were HAPPY that my hero President Ronald Reagan was dead (or so they thought). They were celebrating what they thought was the assassination of America’s president.Incidentally, if Obama actually went to Columbia, he’d almost certainly have to have been in that class leading the cheers. Feel like you need a shower yet? Lest you think I’m exaggerating, British leftists just celebrated and cheered upon hearing of the death of Margaret Thatcher only days ago.But wait, the most frightening and eye-opening is still to come. You see political science students at Columbia were taught a detailed plan designed bytwo former Columbia professors namedCloward & Piven Strategy — Richard Andrew Cloward (1926–2001) and Frances Fox Piven (b. 1932) to bring down “the system,” destroy capitalism, and turn America into a socialist state.We discussed it in class, wrote about it, and debated it outside class. It was our #1 topic for four years.The plan was revolting, but brilliant. Cloward & Piven taught that America could only be destroyed from within. Only by overwhelming the system with debt, welfare, and entitlements could capitalism and the America economy be destroyed. So the plan was to make a majority of Americans dependent on welfare, food stamps, disability, unemployment, and entitlements of all kinds. Then, under the weight of the debt, the system would implode and the economy collapse, bankrupting business owners (i.e. conservative donors). Americans would be brought to their knees, begging for big government to save them. Voila – you’d have a new system- socialism!Sound familiar?Lo and behold, one of my classmates was elected as President and it’s clear as a bell that he is using that plan to destroy America, capitalism, and the U.S. economy right in front of our eyes. It’s the exact plan hatched at Columbia University in our college days. Exact in every way. Under Obama, 660,000 Americans dropped off the job rolls…just last month. 90 million working-age, able-bodied Americans are no longer in the workforce. 90 million. The workforce participation rate is the lowest since 1979. For men it’s the lowest since 1948 (when record keeping began).Almost 50 million Americans are on food stamps (20% of all eligible adults). 14 million are on disability. Millions more are on welfare, unemployment, housing allowances, aid to dependent children, or 100 other free government programs. Now, add in free healthcare plus 22 million government employees. Record-setting numbers of Americans are emptying their retirement accounts to survive. Student loan debt is a national disaster- with defaults up 36% from a year ago. 16.4 million Americans live in poverty…in the suburbs. Every day under Obama the private sector shrinks, while the government grows like a toxic malignant tumor.Obama promised to cut the deficit in half; instead he gave us five consecutive trillion dollar deficits. He promised to spend responsibly; instead he became the biggest spender in world history. He called Bush’s $4 trillion in debt over 8 years reckless, then proceed to pile on $6 trillion in only 4 years. He swore to be on the side of small business, but he added 6,118 new rules, regulations and mandates in just the last 90 days. He claimed taxes are low, yet he just raised taxes to the same level as bankrupt EU countries like Greece, Spain, Italy and France. Our federal income taxes are now far higher than former Soviet Republics.Folks, this is Cloward & Piven. This is Karl Marx, who despised the middle class and vowed to wipe it out. This isSaul Alinsky(Obama’s mentor) who dedicated his book (Obama’s favorite book) to Lucifer, the devil.This is no accident, or the work of an economically inept liberal. This is a purposeful plan to drown the nation in debt and hook a majority to government handouts, happening in front of our eyes. It’s crystal clear Obama’s plan was hatched in our college days, at Columbia, Class of ’83.While I never met Obama at Columbia, I can certainly put him at the scene of the crime. He either went to Columbia, or he didn’t. If he didn’t, he’s a fraud. If he did, he knew the Cloward & Piven plan like the back of his hand. He studied it and his goal- like almost all my classmates- was to use it to bring down the U.S. economy and destroy capitalism to create what they consider to be “equality, fairness and social justice.”Why would anyone want to purposely collapse the economy you might ask? Saul Alinsky taught the ends justify the means. A bankrupt America wipes out the middle class and small business. That wipes out the majority of donors to conservatives causes- meaning Obama has no opposition. It creates “equality”- by putting everyone on equal footing (shared misery). It causes panic- and in panic, voters often make hasty decisions- like choosing big government to save them.The destruction and devastation we see happening right now is classic Cloward & Piven. It’s the plan we learned, studied, and discussed day and night at Columbia. This is no coincidence. This is the Marxist attack from within. This is a purposeful attempt to take down the economy, collapse the middle class, wipe out small business, bankrupt the wealthy (conservative donors), and addict the country to big government Nanny State socialism.And it’s working. Obama has been working on his plan for 30 years (our 30th Columbia class reunion is next month). Now it is time for us to get to work. As I explain in my brand new book, “The Ultimate Obama Survival Guide,” all success, all progress, all the miracles in this world are based on heart, on spirit, on will and on the power of being relentless. We are all going to need to muster the power of relentless to defeat Obama and his socialist game plan. We’re going to need to overcome the damage Obama has done to our economy…and our children’s future. It’s time for battle. Go create your own Booming Personal Economy. Go protect your family. Go take back this country. Your mission is to survive, thrive, and prosper despite Obama.Wayne Allyn Root is a Capitalist Evangelist, serial entrepreneur, and Libertarian-conservative media commentator. He is a former Libertarian vice presidential nominee. He serves as Executive Vice Chairman of the Conservative Caucus in Washington DC.Wayne’s latest book is out on April 15, 2013:The Ultimate Obama Survival Guide: How to Survive, Thrive and Prosper During Obamageddon

Jay-Z (aka Shawn Corey Carter) Raps About Cuba Trip — "Obama Said, ‘You Gonna Get Me Impeached'" President Barack Obama told Jay-Z he was worried the rapper's controversial trip to Cuba would cost him the White House ... this according to Jay-Z.Hova just released a new rap, in which he addresses all of the drama surrounding his trip to Cuba last week with his wife Beyoncé (aka Giselle Knowles-Carter).In the song, titled "Open Letter," Jay says ..."Politicians never did s**t for me ... except lie to me, distort history.”He continues, "Obama said chill ‘You gonna get me impeached' ... We don’t need this s**t anyway chill with me on the beach.'"The implication based on the lyric -- that Obama did something shady in helping Jay-Z and Beyonce get into Cuba and he could be in political hot water as a result.It's a pretty believable lyric, considering how close Jay is with B.O.There's more -- "I can turn Havana to Atlanta ... ballin’ too much they try to jam you."“I’m in Cuba, I love Cubans. This Communist talk is so confusing.” [Another quality rap song destined for #1]Take this POLL:Was Obama In On It? Yes or No66% -- Yes34% -- NoTotal Votes: 83,845Back to Current Poll ResultsLISTEN to Jay-Z's "Open Letter" produced by Swizz Beatz (aka Kasseem David Dean)& Timbaland (aka Timothy Zachery Mosley) - 2:00 min.

We Don't Need Obama's Stinkin' Birth CertificatePhoto similar to this was a requirement at the timeObama momma's passport records show no picture of Barack (aka Barry) and Stanley Ann together, and no certified copy of a hospital birth certificate, both required by law

By Louise Hodges -- I have no use for Barack Obama. I don’t need a President with a history of drug abuse who puts the dreams of his father above the interests of the United States. Obama’s presidency is like a giant sinkhole, swallowing up everything we ever valued as Americans.It’s almost an insult to our intelligence, to ask us to believe that Obama is a US citizen. He has a schizophrenic timeline of unexplained foreign travel, a list of aliases, and uncomfortable friendships with communists and hostile governments.We can drop this debate over his birth certificate because we have something even more valuable. We have his mother’s passport files.Stanley Ann Dunham’s passport files were obtained through the Freedom of Information Act and then posted online. (Strunk v. US Department of State)Click Here for Stanley Ann Dunham’s Records:When Obama was young, children traveled as an addition to their parents’ passports. Passport regulations required a photo of parent and child together, as well as a certified copy of a hospital birth certificate. State-issued IDs came much later.If Obama was born in the United States, as everybody says, then there should be a photo of little Barack Obama with his mother, as well as a certified copy of his Hawaiian birth certificate in her file.SURPRISE! There are no photos of little Barack Obama in the file. And of course, there is no birth certificate from any hospital in Hawaii.I know the passport laws for children. Obama’s mother and I would be approximately the same age if she survived. I filled out the very same passport applications for my own daughter, three years after Obama’s mother took him to Jakarta. The laws were the same for both of us.My daughter was born in an Army hospital in Japan in 1971, when my husband was in the Navy. I added her to my passport so I could bring her back to the United States.I remember it like it was yesterday because my ex-husband complained about how complicated it was. We had to go to the hospital and get a certified copy of her birth certificate, re-take my passport photo with my daughter, crop it until it fit the requirements, and then go all the way to the US Consulate in Tokyo and stand in line. If there was anything the man hated, it was anything that cost him money or inconvenienced him.I carried a joint passport for myself and my daughter through US Customs and Immigration in Hawaii. I can tell you from experience that if Obama’s mother tried to take her son through US Customs and Immigration in Hawaii without a joint passport for herself and her son, she would have been stopped.The obvious question is, who took him through US Customs and Immigration and helped him board the plane in Hawaii? And who brought him back?The only mention of little Barack Obama is when his mother tried to renew her passport at the US Consulate in Jakarta a few years later. We see evidence of that in the file.She tried to trick the passport office. She went to the US Consulate in Jakarta and wrote “Barack Obama” in the section where you add your child. She thought, like we did, that they were going to add him to her passport, no questions asked.They probably laughed and asked her how her son got to Jakarta without a US Passport.When she failed to go get this Hawaiian birth certificate and retake her photo, the Passport Office crossed out his name.She found herself stuck in Jakarta, trying to sneak her son back to the United States.All Congress has to do is ask the Passport Legal Office to explain how Obama’s mother took him through US Customs and Immigration without a US passport. I don’t see that happening.If there was a logical explanation, Obama should look forward to clearing his name. Or maybe we’ll get lucky, and he’ll just get on a helicopter and leave.

BULLET POINTS OF MIKE ZULLO INTERVIEW:(1) Lead Investigator for the Cold Case Posse Lt. Mike Zullo reviews his credentials.(2) The fraudulent birth certificate represents a crime….a felony.(3) “We know it was uploaded from a Mac”(4) A program called Preview was used just before the upload which can erase metadata…some of the data was retained however.(5) Other Programs used are Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop.(6) It was uploaded to a government server.(7) Biggest fraud committed in American history.(8) “I have enough evidence to drive a stake in the heart of this document”(9) This investigation has been verified.(10) New evidence has been turned over to the Cold Case Posse within the last two days from other law enforcement.(11) The Investigation is not stopping.(12) People in high positions with standing have seen the evidence and others also are making arrangements to see it.(13) Promises have been made from people in high positions that the investigation will move forward.(14) The “Wheels of Justice” move slowly.(15) Ret. Army Lt. Col. Allen West and U.S. Rep. is aware of the evidence and cites future political aspirations as to why he refuses to pursue.(16) Lt. Zullo is working toward getting evidence before a DA or Attorney General.(17) This is an issue of National Security.(18) Other sheriffs are interested in the investigation.(19) If you or I proffered a forged birth certificate to gain access to a ballot and was elected to an office and received financial gain from that office that would be a felony offense and we would be indicted immediately.(20) Lead Investigator Mike Zullo shines the light on the disinformation campaign being waged in an effort to try and discredit the investigation…and of which can’t be done.(21) One individual fled the country because of threats.Bullet-points provided by Pixel PatriotCold Case Posse Investigator Mike Zullo Exposes Author John Woodman as a 'Defunct Entrepreneur' and 'Obamabot'John Woodman is a one time author, a self proclaimed computer expert who decided to take it upon himself to get recruited, according to CCP Investigator Mike Zullo, and write a book debunking the claims that Obama has a forged birth certificate and that he is not a natural born Citizen.On Friday, April 5, 2013, Lt. Mike Zullo took calls from listeners for one hour on a radio program. As expected, a caller who has been revealed to be a Obama supporter called in and asked Zullo why he didn't consult with John Woodman on the criminal fraud investigation. At approximately 49:30 Mike Zullo explains why, followed by previously undisclosed information. It is a must listen!Listen to Full Interview Here:Sheriff Joe Arpaio's Lead Investigator Mike Zullo interview 4-5-2013 byWEBY Radio's Host Carl Gallups

Entertainment Tonight Asks: "How Does It Feel to Have a Husband Who Is a Sex Symbol Like JFK and Bill Clinton?"Michelle: "He's a Stylish Man, I Think, Who is Healthy and He’s Smart and He’s Passionate and He’s Inspiring”ENTERTAINMENT TONIGHT: Jackie Kennedy was also one of the first to have a president -- husband -- who is kind of a sex symbol. Like, people used to look at JFK, 'Oh, he's sexy.' And then it was Bill Clinton, and now it's your husband, Barack Obama is looked upon by women across the country as a sex symbol. What do you think? MICHELLE OBAMA: "He's got a little swag, you know. That’s OK, I’m proud of him.” Obama further flattered her husband, noting that he's “a stylish man, I think, who is healthy and he’s smart and he’s passionate and he’s inspiring. Who wouldn’t fall in love with that?” she asked. “You know? It’s OK, yeah.”

'The Greatest Basketball Player Evah, Who Passed Up Lucrative NBA Career to Be Humble Public Servant' Appears to Be a Myth — Obama Throws Up Bricks at WH Easter Roll, Makes Only 2 for 22 Shots(At Left) POTUS on court, with kids and Washington Wizards (At Right) Obama and Biden show old form in pick-up game.

POTUS stepped to free throw line and kids were asked to stand on opposite sides, depending on whether they think he would sink it. Most kids moved in one direction, but one boy went to the "miss" side."Oh, man," a stunned POTUS said, hands on hips. The boy didn't budge. And three others joined.In sharp form, POTUS released the ball. It bounced off the rim and circled it -- miss."Come on. Come on. Did you see that?" Obama said.It got worse. A little while later, after playing tennis, Obama started to take shots amid the kids and pros. Miss. Miss. Off the rim. Miss. Miss. Off the rim. Airball. He moved closer to the net. But time and again, he missed.Of 22 shots POTUS took, he made two. (22 was general consensus of poolers)At one point, POTUS handed a ball to a boy and asked for help. The boy made the layup."He couldn't make one. I had to help him out," said Kahron Campbell, 10, of Landover, MD. It was a sad display for a washed-up player.Presser Jay Carney jokingly conceded that perhaps the leader of the free world needs to spend some more time on the court."The president doesn’t get to practice probably as much as he would like to," he said, adding "Having done a few shoot-arounds with him, he’s a pretty good shot."When a reporter noted that there's a basketball court on the White House grounds, Carney replied, "These are busy times."

Sports Illustrated Names Obama One of the Most Powerful People in SportsObama cited for his prowess in Power Cycling, Power Pitching, Thunderous Gorilla Dunks, Power Walking and his avant garde Golf Attire.44 BARACK U.S. President — [TASTEMAKER ] [WORLD POWER ] [NOBEL PRIZER] [HAS NUCLEAR CODES ] [SOCIAL SAVVY ]Sports Illustrated has put together a list of the 50 most powerful people in sports and President Obama comes in at -- No. 44: POTUS might be the ultimate global power player, but he also wields significant influence in the Republic of Sports. One relevant riff-on his NCAA tourney picks, on his desire for a college football playoff, on his concern over permitting the sons that he doesn't have to play football-and the sports world takes notice. Plus, the 51-year-old canshoot the J. CLICK HERE to see SI's 50 Most Powerful People in Sports

12Economists: Obamacare, NOT Sequestration (And NOT Bush's Fault), Was a Factor in "Awful" March Jobs NumbersEmployers added a disappointing 88,000 jobs in March, confirming fears of a slowdown in payroll growth that economists say could persist for several months. The number of new jobs is less than half what economists had forecast.The unemployment rate fell to 7.6% from 7.7%, largely because 496,000 Americans stopped working or looking for work, the Labor Department said Friday in its monthly employment report.Futures trading on Wall Street in major indexes began sinking as soon as the report was released. And investors fled to the safety of U.S. Treasury bonds, where prices soared and yields plummeted.Former CBO director Douglas Holtz-Eakin describes the totality of the new report as "awful." Few liberal economists can muster the strength to disagree. The civilian workforce participation rate is the real story today, with nearly half-a-million Americans giving up looking for work. Perversely, this allowed the official U-3 unemployment rate to tick down by a notch, but analysts from across the spectrum recognize that result as fool's gold. The participation rate is now a paltry 63.3 percent, the lowest it's been since 1978.This is a very disappointing report, which Obama cheerleaders will try to blame on his sequester cuts -- which, in turn, they'll try to blame on Republicans. But these are pre-sequester numbers. Before the furloughs. Before any possible layoffs.Don't ask me, ask Obama's favorite economist: "I don't think the sequester [is in these numbers] at all," says Mark Zandi, then mentions Obamacare.That's a double gut-punch to the White House. Their go-to "independent" economist trashes their built-in excuse, then raises the specter of Obamacare (which he's been doing for the last few months).A number of economists warning of Obamacare-related layoffs acting as a wet blanket atop our struggling "recovery." The nonpartisan CBO has estimated that Obamacare would kill 800,000 American jobs. Thanks Obama, You B* * * * *d!Payrolls Plunge To 88K, Biggest Miss Since December 2009, Labor Force Participation Rate Sinks to 63.3%, 30 Year LowSo much for "open-ended QE driven recovery". Moments ago the March Non-farm payroll hit and it was a doozy, printing at 88K, below the lowest forecast of 100K, well below the expected number of 190K, and a tragedy compared to the February revised print of 268K (was 236K). This was the biggest miss to expectations since December 2009 and the worst print since June 2012. The unemployment rate declined to 7.6%, but this was due entirely to the collapse in the labor force participation rate, which declined by 20 bps to 63.3%, a new 30 year low.See BLS Full Report.

One in Four Americans Think Obama May Be the Antichrist, Survey Says --- but He Somehow Still Managed Enough Votes for Reelection — We Know What Happened; Voter Fraud Is ‘A Normal Political Tactic’ for the PARTY OF RATS UK's The Guardian -- About one in four Americans suspect that President Barack Obama might be the antichrist, more than a third believe that global warming is a hoax and more than half suspect that a secretive global elite is trying to set up a New World Order, according to a poll released on Tuesday.The survey, which was conducted by Public Policy Polling, asked a sample of American voters about a number of conspiracy theories, phrasing the questions in eye-catching language that will have the country's educators banging their heads on their desks. The study revealed that 13% of respondents thought Obama was "the antichrist", while another 13% were "not sure" – and so were at least appeared to be open to the possibility that he might be. Some 73% of people were able to say outright that they did not think Obama was "the antichrist"The survey also showed that 37% of Americans thought that global warming was a hoax, while 12% were not sure and a slim majority – 51% – agreed with the overwhelming majority view of the scientific establishment and thought that it was not. The survey also revealed that 28% of people believed in a sinister global New World Order conspiracy, aimed at ruling the whole world through authoritarian government. Another 25% were "not sure" and only a minority of American voters – 46% – thought such a conspiracy theory was not true.Public Policy Polling's national survey this week took the opportunity to poll 20 widespread and/or infamous conspiracy theories. Many of these theories are well known to the public, others perhaps to just the darker corners of the internet.

HERE'S WHAT PPP FOUND: ■ &nbsp37% of voters believe global warming is a hoax, 51% do not. Republicans say global warming is a hoax by a 58-25 margin, Democrats disagree 11-77, and Independents are more split at 41-51. 61% of Romney voters believe global warming is a hoax ■ &nbsp6% of voters believe Osama bin Laden is still alive ■ &nbsp21% of voters say a UFO crashed in Roswell, NM in 1947 and the US government covered it up. More Romney voters 27% than Obama voters (16%) believe in a UFO coverup ■ &nbsp28% of voters believe secretive power elite with a globalist agenda is conspiring to eventually rule the world through an authoritarian world government, or New World Order. A plurality of Romney voters (38%) believe in the New World Order compared to 35% who don’t ■ &nbsp28% of voters believe Saddam Hussein was involved in the 9/11 attacks. 36% of Romney voters believe Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, 41% do not ■ &nbsp20% of voters believe there is a link between childhood vaccines and autism, 51% do not ■ &nbsp7% of voters think the moon landing was faked ■ &nbsp13% of voters think Barack Obama is the anti-Christ, including 22% of Romney voters ■ &nbspVoters are split 44%-45% on whether Bush intentionally misled about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. 72% of Democrats think Bush lied about WMDs, Independents agree 48-45, just 13% of Republicans think so ■ &nbsp29% of voters believe aliens exist ■ &nbsp14% of voters say the CIA was instrumental in creating the crack cocaine epidemic in America’s inner cities in the1980’s ■ &nbsp9% of voters think the government adds fluoride to our water supply for sinister reasons (not just dental health) ■ &nbsp4% of voters say they believe “lizard people” control our societies by gaining political power ■ &nbsp51% of voters say a larger conspiracy was at work in the JFK assassination, just 25% say Oswald acted alone ■ &nbsp14% of voters believe in Bigfoot ■ &nbsp15% of voters say the government or the media adds mind-controlling technology to TV broadcast signals (the so-called Tinfoil Hat crowd) ■ &nbsp5% believe exhaust seen in the sky behind airplanes is actually chemicals sprayed by the government for sinister reasons ■ &nbsp15% of voters think the medical industry and the pharmaceutical industry “invent” new diseases to make money ■ &nbspJust 5% of voters believe that Paul McCartney actually died in 1966 ■ &nbsp11% of voters believe the US government allowed 9/11 to happen, 78% do not agreeFull results here

H-o-l-y J-o-k-e-s-! Obama's Official Search Engine Forgot About Easter Sunday — Resurrected an Homage to Some Dead Hombré Named CésarAnd No Acknowledgement of the Easter Bunny or White House
135th Annual Egg Roll CelebrationHa! We got it! Google got the jump on April Fool's Day. Clever!SEE JOKE

By Ben Shapiro -- March 31 marks the birthday of National Farm Workers Association (later United Farm Workers) co-founder César Chávez. Chávez [not to be confused with the recently departed Hugo], who was trained by Saul Alinsky [Obama and Hillary were Saul's most prized disciples to the detriment of America] in the tactics of community organizing, has become a cult figure in California due to his organization of agricultural workers.March 31 also happens to be another important date this year: EASTER. So, naturally, GOOGLE’s current logo features a graphic of Chávez’s face, rather than anything having to do with Easter.SEE JOKEThis is not the first time that Google has chosen to honor leftists over tradition. Back on July 4, GOOGLE plastered the words “This Land Was Made For You And Me” in its logo, in honor of Communist fellow-traveler Woody Guthrie’s This Land Is Your Land. On Christmas, GOOGLE featured a holiday-themed logo that popped up this window: “Happy Holidays from GOOGLE!”GOOGLE can, and likely will switch out to an Easter logo sometime today. But as millions of Christians return home from Easter vigil on the holiest day of their calendar, they are currently being greeted by César Chávez in a white suit.Ben Shapiro is Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the book “Bullies: How the Left’s Culture of Fear and Intimidation Silences America” (Threshold Editions, January 8, 2013).Obama-Google Priorities Confirmed: Obama Delivers 117 Word Statement for Easter — 664 Word Statement for Fellow Alinskyite, César ChávezObama laying a rose on comrade César Chávez's grave in 2012Read Obama's 117 word, one paragraph statement for Easter | Read Obama's 664 word, 12 paragraph statement for César Chávez Day

COMMENTS FROM THE BLOGOSPHERE:Christians from all walks of life and political views expressed shock, dismay, and exasperation with Google’s diss of Easter:

Wow. Congrats Google, you've managed to alienate all Christians in America today: instead of celebrating Christ, they celebrate Cesar Chavez.Mom said it best… "Go to hell, Google." Bing, anyone?"Better a dead lefty, then a risen Lord."It's not religious bigotry when it's against Christians."We now interrupt the international holiday already in progress with this delightfully trendy and totally informative trifle."Google is a Marxist anti-Christian company.When will they be doing Vladmir Lenin?I do not use Google search engine. I use ixquick. I do not have an Android (Google) appliance. I recommend that any conservative should find alternatives to anything Google.There’s got to be a special place in hell for socialist billionaires.I'm surprised that Chavez' birthday hasn't been declared a national holiday by now to pander to the hispanic vote. It's a state holiday in California, Colorado, and Texas.Google’s Doodle logo overlords sure have a way of rubbing their politics in people’s noses.

11The Worst of Times! Obama Plans to Travel the Nation Rallying His Anti-Gun and Homosexual Supporters — How 'Down Low' Can He Get!The Pink Pistols is a homosexual gun rights organization whose motto is “Armed Gays."It's unknown whether Obama is a member because all his records are sealed.

Now that Senate Democrats have passed their first budget in four years, Washington is turning its attention away from fiscal issues this week and towards social ones.President Obama devoted his weekly radio and internet address Saturday to pushing for more gun control in response to the mass killing in Newton, Connecticut last year. “As a nation, the last three months have changed us,” Obama said. “You – the American people – have spoken.You’ve made it clear that it’s time to do something.” Specifically, Obama called for more background checks and an assault weapon ban. Aides told the Associated Press Obama will make additional trips outside Washington to make his case on the issue.Back in Washington, the Supreme Court is set to here oral arguments on two same-sex marriage cases. On Tuesday the Court will hear Hollingsworth v Perry, which challenges California Proposition 8 which prohibits the state from recognizing same-sex marriage. On Wednesday the Court will hear United States v Windsor, a challenge to the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) which defines marriage as only a union of a man and a woman.Activists from both sides have been waiting outside the Supreme Court since last week for seats at the proceedings (although there is no word on whether or not today’s snowfall dislodged them).This upsurge in social issues that fire up his base could not come at a better time for Obama. As The New York Times reported this weekend, Obama’s advantage over Republicans on economic issues has completely evaporated in the first three months of his second term. Obama’s approval ratings have also steadily declined and, according Pew, Obama’s second term trajectory is currently much closer to that of President Bush than that of President Clinton.Unless the economy becomes much stronger, expect many more social-issue themed speeches and campaigns like this one from the White House.

Need a Job? Looks Like You'll Have to Wait 'til Obama's Gone — CBO Says America Will Never See Full Employment Under Obama's 'Eight Failed Years' The Congressional Budget Office is now projecting that the U.S. economy will never achieve full employment during the eight years Barack Obama serves as president.That would make Obama the only American president during the post-World War II era who never presided over a year in which the U.S. economy offered full employment to the American people.The CBO defines “full employment” to be when the national unemployment rate is at or below what it calls the “natural unemployment rate.”The natural unemployment rate, according to CBO, is the “rate of unemployment arising from all sources except fluctuations in aggregate demand. Those sources include frictional unemployment, which is associated with normal turnover of jobs, and structural unemployment, which includes unemployment caused by mismatches between the skills of available workers and the skills necessary to fill vacant positions and unemployment caused when wages exceed their market-clearing levels because of institutional factors, such as legal minimum wages, the presence of unions, social conventions, or wage-setting practices by employers that are intended to increase workers’ morale and effort.”In a blog entry published last week, CBO Director Doug Elmendorf said “we think it will take four more years to get back close to full employment.”In fact, baseline data CBO released last month indicate that the “natural unemployment rate” will be 5.5 percent through the rest of Obama’s presidency and that actual unemployment will never drop below 6.0 percent in any quarter between now and the end of 2016.According to CBO, unemployment will remain above 7.0 percent through the third quarter of 2015. It will then drop to 6.8 percent in the fourth quarter of 2015, and gradually decline to 6.0 percent by the fourth quarter of 2016.In the first quarter of 2017, when the next president is being sworn into office, the unemployment rate will drop to 5.8 percent, CBO projects. That would still be above the natural unemployment rate of 5.5 percent.Finally, in the first quarter of 2018, according to CBO’s projections, unemployment will drop to 5.5 percent. At that point, a year after Obama has left office, the U.S. economy will finally achieve full employment for the first time since 2007.Thus, according to CBO's projections, America will never see full employment under Obama even though the CBO has increased what it considers to be the natural unemployment rate during Obama’s tenure. From the first quarter of 1999 through the first quarter of 2008, CBO calculated that the natural unemployment rate was 5.0 percent. Thus, for the economy to achieve full employment during that nine-year span, actual unemployment had to fall to 5.0 percent or lower.Despite this higher standard, the economy did achieve full employment on a number of occasions from 1999 through 2008. This included, on average, the entire years of 2000, 2001, 2006 and 2007.During the tenures of each American president from Harry Truman through George W. Bush--according to the average annual unemployment rates published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the natural unemployment rate calculated by CBO--there was at least one year in which the U.S. economy achieved full employment.To see a complete list of the average actual annual unemployment rates compared to the natural unemployment rate for the years from 1988 onward click here.

Obama May Look and Act Like Satan, but Here Are the Top Reasons Why Obama is Not SatanSatan: "If I had a son, Obama would certainly be the one."

The Internet is abuzz with the fact that Satan on the History Channel’s "The Bible" miniseries, which has gotten great ratings, looks a tad like Obama if Michele gets him to go on a veggies only diet. We really don’t see much resemblance but it does give us a good excuse to look at the top ten reasons why Obama is not Satan:

(1) Hell has never run a deficit.(2) Satan, whatever his other manifest evils, has never voted present.(3) Satan resides in Hell and Obama resides in Chicago. (A small difference we concede.).(4) Satan is the prince of liars, while Obama is at most an archduke of liars.(5) Satan to my knowledge has never eaten dog.(6) Satan has never used a teleprompter as far as I know.(7) The people of the United States have never elected Satan as President, although if God were running as a Republican and Satan as a Democrat in Cook County, I would not like God’s chances.(8) Satan has never attempted to have the Catholic Church pay for birth control.(9) Satan gets almost as bad press in the Mainstream Media as the Republican party.(10) Satan does not have a second in command as dimwitted as Biden.

Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential nominee, spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Saturday and offered stark criticism of the Obama administration and used the friendly platform to poke fun at New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg's call to ban oversized sodas.Palin had just finished speaking about the run on gun sales leading up to the Christmas holiday. She said her husband bought her a gun rack and she bought him a gun, saying, "In this go around, he's got the rifle and I got the rack."The crowd laughed. She ducked under the podium and while the crowd was still clapping, retrieved a clear Big Gulp cup filed with soda and took a long swig. The crowd cheered some more."Oh, Bloomberg's not around, our Big Gulp's safe," Palin quipped. "Shoot, it's just pop, with low-cal ice cubes in it. I hope that’s OK."Earlier this week, Manhattan state Supreme Court Justice Milton Tingling halted Bloomberg's ban on sugary drinks, writing in his opinion that the rules are "arbitrary and capricious," applying to only certain beverages and only certain stores.Bloomberg, for his part, said the city plans to appeal, calling the ruling "clearly an error."Palin saved her most pointed criticism for the president, likening him to Ponzi-scheme felon Bernie Madoff.Taking a shot at the president's call for universal background checks on gun owners, she said, "Dandy idea, Mr. President -- should have started with yours."The former Alaska governor also urges GOP to broaden message."We must leave no American behind," she said in a populist speech that electrified supporters at a conservative summit in suburban Washington. "And we must share our powerful message of freedom and liberty to all citizens -- even those who may disagree on some issues."Palin has maintained a low profile during last year's election. She's expected to play a limited role in the future of the GOP but shared several recommendations Saturday.Instead of focusing on rebuilding the Republican Party, she said that party leaders should focus on rebuilding the middle class.

Record 89 MILLION Americans 'Not in Labor Force' — 296,000 Fewer Employed Since January The number of Americans designated as "not in the labor force" in February was 89,304,000, a record high, up from 89,008,000 in January, according to the Department of Labor. This means that the number of Americans not in the labor force increased 296,000 between January and February.The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) labels people who are unemployed and no longer looking for work as “not in the labor force,” including people who have retired on schedule, taken early retirement, or simply given up looking for work.The increase marks the second month in a row, after rising in January from 88.8 million in December. Those not in the labor force had declined in December from 88.9 million in November.The nation's unemployment rate decreased to 7.7 percent in February, down from 7.9 percent in January. Overall unemployment “has shown little movement, on net, since September 2012,” the Labor Department said.Total nonfarm payroll employment increased by 236,000 in February, according to the report.

He Should Be Proud — Obama Has Grown the Food Stamp Rolls to Record 47,791,996 in a Snap23% People Living in Washington, D.C. Proper Are On the SNAP ProgramOn Friday, the United States Department of Agriculture quietly released new statistics related to the food stamps program, officially known as SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). The numbers reveal, in 2012, the food stamps program was the biggest it's ever been, with an average of 46,609,072 people on the program every month of last year. 47,791,996 people were on the program in the month of December 2012.The federal government also says that in a given month in 2012, the number of households on food stamps was 22,329,713. The state with the highest average number of participants per month in 2012 was Texas, with an astonishing 4,038,440 folks drawing from the program. The second highest is California, with 3,964,221, and then Florida, at 3,353,064. Washington, D.C., with an estimated population of 617,996, had an average of 141,147 participants. Meaning, roughly 23 percent of folks living in D.C. are on food stamps, according to the numbers provided by the federal government.Ironicaly, 7 of 10 Nation's Highest Household Income Counties Surround Washington, D.C. — It's Very Good to Be a BureaucratTwice the pay for half the work — Be rich, be a bureaucrat!A recent USA Today column reveals that Washington is getting fat, and it does so on money taken from the rest of the country.Just how fat have Washington and the Beltway counties gotten? According to the latest U.S. Census data, between 2000 and 2010 the richest of the Washington, D.C., area have accrued about twice as much new wealth as those not living in or around the area.Also, some Washington counties have gotten about twice as much new wealth as some of the other richest counties in the United States.An April 2012 Forbes article lists the 10 richest counties in the United States — the list contains five D.C.-area counties, including the top three richest on the list.A comparison with the other richest counties and with the rest of the United States gives a more detailed picture. I compared the differences in median income (family and household) between these 10 counties and the rest of the United States, in addition to looking at income growth over the 10-year period 2000 to 2010. (All of this data that comes from the U.S. Census website)From 2000 to 2010, the richest Washington-area counties’ income (by two income measures — defined at the end of this article) grew at about twice the rate of the rest of the country. D.C.-area income also grew at almost twice the rate as the other richest counties in the country not located in the Washington area.Since 2000, Washington D.C. Area Wealth Grew at Twice National AverageThe Washington region has emerged from the recession looking even more affluent compared with the rest of the country, boasting seven of the 10 counties with the highest household incomes in the nation, new census numbers show.With a median household income surpassing $119,000, Loudoun County heads the list. Fairfax County, at nearly $106,000, is second. Both have held the same positions for several years running.More surprising, Arlington County leapfrogged from the fifth spot to third, with a median household income of almost $101,000, a $6,000 gain in one year. Four in 10 households in the county are single person, leaving Arlington with a relatively small share of residents whose affluence comes from two incomes, compared with Loudoun and Fairfax.Other counties in the top 10 are Howard, Prince William, Fauquier and Montgomery, which had dropped out of it in 2010. Among states, Maryland has the nation’s highest household income level, and Virginia is ninth.The rankings in the 2011 American Community Survey released Thursday expand Washington’s dominance among high-income households, reflecting a regional economy that was largely cushioned as the recession yanked down income levels elsewhere.Household incomes rose in most counties around Washington last year, even as they continued to sink around the country.
The stability of an economy built on the pillars of the federal government, its legions of contractors and a flourishing high-tech sector is evident in the income rankings.In 2007, before the recession began, five counties in suburban Washington made it into the top 10. By 2010, there were six. The seven in the latest ranking is an all-time high.Federal Bureaucrats Remain Rich, Owe $3.5 Billion in Unpaid TaxesWASHINGTON -- From military personnel to postal workers, federal employees are on the hook for $3.5 billion in unpaid 2011 taxes, according to a report obtained by WTOP. The amount is a nearly 3 percent increase compared to the year before. About 312,000 employees owe the government a total of $3,519,410,517, according to the Federal Employee/Retiree Delinquency Initiative (FERDI) released on March 8 by the IRS. The total number of delinquent workers dropped between 2009 and 2010 but jumped more than 11 percent in 2011. The number of delinquent civilian taxpayers is the highest since 2005. Roughly 9.8 million people >>>

CIA's Brennan Takes Oath on 'First Draft' Constitution — Which Excluded Protections of First, Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Amendments — Be Afraid, Gird Your Loins!According to the White House, John Brennan was sworn in as CIA Director on a “first draft” of the Constitution including notations from George Washington, dating to 1787.Vice President Joe Biden swears in CIA Director John Brennan in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, March 8, 2013. Members of Brennan’s family stand with him. Brennan was sworn in with his hand on an original draft of the Constitution, dating from 1787, which has George Washington’s personal handwriting and annotations on it.That means, when Brennan vowed to protect and defend the Constitution, he was swearing on one that did not include the First, Fourth, Fifth, or Sixth Amendments — or any of the other Amendments now included in our Constitution. The Bill of Rights did not become part of our Constitution until 1791, 4 years after the Constitution that Brennan took his oath on.I really don’t mean to be an asshole about this. But these vows always carry a great deal of symbolism. And whether he meant to invoke this symbolism or not, the moment at which Brennan took over the CIA happened to exclude (in symbolic form, though presumably not legally) the key limits on governmental power that protect American citizens.Update: Olivier Knox describes how the White House pushed the symbolism of this.Hours after CIA Director John Brennan took the oath of office – behind closed doors, far away from the press, perhaps befitting his status as America’s top spy – the White House took pains to emphasize the symbolism of the ceremony.“There’s one piece of this that I wanted to note for you,” spokesman Josh Earnest told reporters gathered for their daily briefing. “Director Brennan was sworn in with his hand on an original draft of the Constitution that had George Washington’s personal handwriting and annotations on it, dating from 1787.”Earnest said Brennan had asked for a document from the National Archives that would demonstrate the U.S. is a nation of laws.“Director Brennan told the president that he made the request to the archives because he wanted to reaffirm his commitment to the rule of law as he took the oath of office as director of the CIA,” Earnest said.Brennan Refuses to Rule Out Drone Assassinations Within the U.S.!Picture this circling your man caveIn a written response to this question submitted by the Senate Intelligence Committee, “Could the Administration carry out drone strikes inside the United States?” John Brennan replied, “This Administration has not carried out drone strikes inside the United States and has no intention of doing so.” This is what is known as a non-responsive answer. It is reasonable to assume that if the answer was “no,” Brennan would simply have written, “No.” Instead, in order to avoid a giving straightforward “Yes,” he answered a different question than the one that was asked. A drone attack on U.S. soil would abrogate the U.S. Constitution’s Bill of Rights and the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee that no person shall be “deprived of life … without due process of law.”Poll: Majority of Americans Opposed to Being Killed by DroneBy Andy Borowitz (New Yorker) -- In a possible setback for the Administration’s controversial drone policy, a new poll conducted by the University of Minnesota shows that a broad majority of Americans are opposed to being killed by a drone strike on U.S. soil.The poll, which has a margin of error of plus or minus five percentage points, showed that ninety-seven per cent of those surveyed “strongly agreed” with the statement, “I personally do not want to be killed by a drone,” with three per cent responding, “Don’t know/No opinion.”There’s no other way to interpret these numbers,” said the University of Minnesota’s Davis Logsdon, who oversaw the survey. “The idea of being killed by a drone is not playing well out there.”And while the poll numbers may not augur well for the Administration’s expanding use of drones, the response was even more negative in a focus group of likely drone victims.One member of that group, a forty-three-year-old male from St. Paul, complained that “it doesn’t even seem like the government is trying to come up with alternatives to killing us with drones.”“It seems like they could figure out some kind of system where instead of just being killed by a drone, people could maybe present evidence to see if they’re guilty or not,” he said.At the White House, spokesman Jay Carney tried to make the best of the poll results, telling reporters, “Look, people are afraid of getting killed by a drone. We get that. But there is still broad public support for drones killing somebody else.” (Above post was satire)Shock Poll: 41% of Obamabot Dems Think President Should Have Power to Kill Suspected American Terrorist on American Soil (not satire)“ON HIS OWN.” To be clear, they think he should have the power to do this “on his own.” This is what years of screeching during the Bush era about “the unitary executive” has come to.I feel like I should issue a correction here. Back when Rand Paul was stumping against John Brennan on grounds that he wouldn’t give a straight answer about whether the White House can order a U.S. citizen killed on U.S. soil, I argued that Brennan’s silence wasn’t a big deal because the public simply wouldn’t stand for drone attacks here and O would surely realize that. Correction: A big chunk of the public, nearly a majority, would stand for it just fine.In an era of fierce bipartisan disagreement, those numbers are amazingly consistent. According to the DOJ’s “white paper” on targeting U.S. citizens, drone attacks are permissible only if capturing the target isn’t “feasible.” I’d argue that if you’re on U.S. soil, you’re within reach of American law enforcement and therefore, by definition, capture is feasible.(The DOJ and The One himself have been conspicuously quiet about that.) Judging from these numbers, though, a huge chunk of the public is a lot more lax about defining feasibility than I’d be.Serious question: Do the people who answered “yes” here think capturing Chris Dorner was “infeasible” because he was holed up in a cabin with a gun? Or have they dispensed with infeasibility as a requirement entirely and are drawing the line on domestic drone strikes simply at whether the target is suspected of being a member of Al Qaeda?But wait. Let’s refine that last question a bit. What if, instead of asking if the United States should be able to target U.S. citizens here at home — which implies multiple agencies looking at the evidence and coordinating on a strike — we specify that the decision’s coming from the president exclusively? Suddenly, the numbers aren’t so consistent:Behold the power of partisanship, and ask yourself what those numbers would have looked like if they had tweaked the question to name Obama. Some liberals have admitted that they’re okay with O’s drone program because they trust him personally to administer it judiciously. Rephrase this question so that it’s about him specifically and maybe you get to 50 percent among Dems.By the way, in the most common drone-strike scenario — a suspected terrorist being targeted on foreign soil with no issue related to citizenship — fully 74 percent approve of the policy including 69 percent of self-identified liberals. Looks like Pelosi was right. For all the media heavy-breathing about drone warfare, it does seem to be popular.Visions of Drones Swarming U.S. Skies Hit Bipartisan NerveNew York Times -- The debate goes to the heart of a deeply rooted American suspicion about the government, the military and the surveillance state: the specter of drones streaking through the skies above American cities and towns, controlled by faceless bureaucrats and equipped to spy or kill. That Big Brother imagery — conjured up by Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky during a more than 12-hour filibuster this week — has animated a surprisingly diverse swath of political interests that includes mainstream civil liberties groups, Republican and Democratic lawmakers, conservative research groups, liberal activists and right-wing conspiracy theorists. Continued >>

Former FBI agent, John Guandolo, who wrote the first Muslim Brotherhood training manual for the FBI, outs John Brennan, Obama’s nominee for CIA Director, as having converted to Islam while working in Saudi Arabia. Interview from Tom Trento’s radio show was taped February 8, 2013.Listen to excerpt with John Guandolo here -- Fast forward to 10:50, ends 52 min. markJohn Brennan: Son of Irish immigrants from Roscommon, Ireland, was raised in North Bergen, New Jersey. He attended the Immaculate Heart of Mary elementary school, and graduated from Saint Joseph of the Palisades High School in West New York, New Jersey While riding a bus to class at Fordham University, he saw an ad in The New York Times that said the CIA was recruiting, and felt a CIA career would be a good match for his "wanderlust" and his desire to do public service. He received a B.A. in political science from Fordham in 1977. His studies included a junior year abroad learning Arabic and taking Middle Eastern studies courses at the American University in Cairo. He also received a Master of Arts in government with a concentration in Middle Eastern studies from the University of Texas at Austin in 1980. He speaks Arabic fluently. Brennan was Chief of Station in Riyadh in 1996.Listen to John Brennan speak about the beauty of Islam - 3:41 min.John Guandolo: Former FBI agent, counterterrorism expert, and commander of the FBI Hostage Rescue Team collaborates on a wide variety of educational, training, and consulting objectives through Strategic Engagement Group, Inc., where he works as Vice President of Strategic Planning and Execution.Following receipt of his B.S. in Engineering from the United States Naval Academy, John Guandolo received commission as an officer and embarked on a seven-year career in the United States Marine Corps. During his time in the military, John Guandolo served as Infantry Platoon Commander in the 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines (Persian Gulf War) and Assistant Operations Officer, Platoon Commander, and Airborne and Diving Officer in the 2nd Force Reconnaissance Company.Resigning his commission in the Marine Corps in 1996, John Guandolo began a lengthy period as an Agent in the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He held a number of roles in the FBI’s Washington Field Office, including SWAT Team Leader and Subject Matter Expert (SME) in the Counterterrorism Division (CTD). Owing to his outstanding performance and service to the Bureau, John Guandolo received two commendations for Investigative Excellence from the United States Attorneys’ Office and a Defender of the Homeland Award from the Center for Security Policy.

During Obama's 2008 Presidential campaign, a employee with The Analysis Corp. was arrested and charged for a breach of Obama's passport records at the U.S. State Department.A principle with The Analysis Corp., former CIA Agent John O. Brennan, was an adviser to the Obama Campaign and a political donor at the time of the arrest.It was widely reported and generally accepted Obama's passport records included information which could implicate him or associate him with the CIA as an asset and Brennan's firm was discharged with the duty to clean up Obama's passport records. Brennan is currently Obama's nominee for CIA Director.

Shock Claim: Obama Picks Muslim for CIA Chief — Former FBI Expert Claims John Brennan Converted to IslamBy Drew Zahn -- One of the FBI’s former top experts on Islam has announced that President Obama’s pick to head the Central Intelligence Agency, John Brennan, converted to Islam years ago in Saudi Arabia.As WND has reported, former FBI Islam expert John Guandolo has long warned that the federal government is being infiltrated by members of the radical Muslim Brotherhood. But Guandolo now warns that by appointing Brennan to CIA director, Obama has not only chosen a man “naïve” to these infiltrations, but also picked a candidate who is himself a Muslim.“Mr. Brennan did convert to Islam when he served in an official capacity on the behalf of the United States in Saudi Arabia,” Guandolo told interviewer and radio host Tom Trento.“That fact alone is not what is most disturbing,” Guandolo continued. “His conversion to Islam was the culmination of a counterintelligence operation against him to recruit him. The fact that foreign intelligence service operatives recruited Mr. Brennan when he was in a very sensitive and senior U.S. government position in a foreign country means that he either a traitor … [or] he has the inability to discern and understand how to walk in those kinds of environments, which makes him completely unfit to the be the director of Central Intelligence.”Brennan did indeed serve as CIA station chief in Riyadh in the 1990s and today holds the official title of Deputy National Security Advisor for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism. On Jan. 7, Obama nominated Brennan as the next director of the CIA, though he has yet to be confirmed. Continued >>>

By Jerome R. Corsi (NEW YORK) -- John Brennan, the Obama counter-terrorism adviser nominated this week to head the CIA, played a controversial role in what many suspect was an effort to sanitize Obama’s passport records.On March 21, 2008, amid Obama’s first presidential campaign, two unnamed contract employees for the State Department were fired and a third was disciplined for breaching the passport file of Democratic presidential candidate and then-Sen. Barack Obama.Breaking the story, the Washington Times on March 20, 2008, noted that all three had used their authorized computer network access to look up and read Obama’s records within the State Department consular affairs section that “possesses and stores passport information.”Contacted by the newspaper, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack attributed the violations to non-political motivations, stressing that the three individuals involved “did not appear to be seeking information on behalf of any political candidate or party.”“As far as we can tell, in each of the three cases, it was imprudent curiosity,” McCormack told the Washington Times.The spokesman did not disclose exactly how the State Department came to that conclusion. By the next day, the story had changed.The New York Times reported March 21, 2008, that the security breach had involved unauthorized searches of the passport records not just of Sen. Obama but also of then-presidential contenders Sens. John McCain and Hillary Clinton.Again, the New York Times attributed the breaches to “garden-variety snooping by idle employees” that was “not politically motivated.”Like the Washington Times, the New York Times gave no explanation to back up its assertion that the breaches were attributable to non-political malfeasance.Still, the New York Times report indicated then-Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice had spent Friday morning calling all three presidential candidates and that she had told Obama that she was sorry for the violation.“I told him that I myself would be very disturbed if I learned that somebody had looked into my passport file,” Rice said.The newspaper quoted Obama as saying he appreciated the apology but that he expected the passport situation “to be investigated diligently and openly.”According to the New York Times report, Obama’s tone of concern was obvious.“One of the things that the American people count on in their interactions with any level of government is that if they have to disclose personal information, that is going to stay personal and stay private,” Obama told reporters. “And when you have not just one, but a series of attempts to tap into people’s personal records, that’s a problem, not just for me, but for how our government is functioning.”The New York Times noted that the files examined likely contained sensitive personal information, including Social Security numbers, addresses and dates of birth, as well as passport applications and other biographical information that would pertain to U.S. citizenship. Only at the end of the article did the New York Times note that State Department spokesman McCormack had emphasized the most egregious violation appeared to have been made against Obama.Obama was the only one of the three presidential candidates involved who had his passport file breached on three separate occasions. The first occurred Jan. 9, 2008, followed by separate violations Feb. 21 and March 14, 2008. Moreover, all three of the offending employees had breached Obama’s files, while each of the passport files of McCain and Clinton had been breached only once.

The Brennan ConnectionThe New York Times noted the two offending State Department contract employees who were fired had worked for Stanley Inc., a company based in Arlington, Va., while the reprimanded worker continued to be employed by the Analysis Corporation of McLean, Va.The newspaper gave no background on either corporation, other than to note that Stanley Inc. did “computer work for the government.”At that time, Stanley Inc. was a 3,500-person technology firm that had just won a $570-million contract to provide computer-related passport services to the State Department.Analysis Corporation was headed by Brennan, a former CIA agent who was then serving as an adviser on intelligence and foreign policy to Sen. Obama’s presidential campaign.After Obama’s inauguration, Brennan joined the White House as assistant to the president and deputy national security adviser for homeland security and counter-terrorism.By March 22, 2008, the Washington Times reported that the State Department investigation had focused on the contract worker for the Analysis Corporation, because he was the only one of the three involved in breaching the passport records of both Obama and McCain, the two presidential candidates whose eligibility as “natural born” citizens under Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution were in question.Keeping with the theme that the motive for the passport breach was attributable to mischief, the three State Department contract employees received relatively light penalties for their offenses – two were fired and one was reprimanded.Although at the time the State Department promised a full-scale investigation, the public was kept in the dark.In July 2008, the State Department’s Office of Inspector General issued a 104-page investigative report on the passport breach incidents, stamped “Sensitive But Unclassified.” The report was so heavily redacted, it was virtually useless to the public. Scores of passages were blacked out entirely, including one sequence of 29 consecutive pages that were each obliterated by a solid black box that made it impossible even to determine paragraph structures.Investigative reporter Kenneth Timmerman saida well-placed but unnamed source told him that the real point of the passport breach incidents was to cauterize the Obama file, removing from it any information that could prove damaging to his eligibility to be president.According to the theory, the breaches of McCain’s and Clinton’s files were done for misdirection purposes, to create confusion and to suggest the motives of the perpetrators were attributable entirely to innocent curiosity.

Another Thief Enters the CaseWithin a few days, a new witness surfaced unexpectedly, providing evidence that breaching passport files was an offense being perpetrated by State Department officials on a massive and everyday basis.The case centered on L(ei)utenant Quarles Harris Jr., age 24. Harris, who spelled his named differently than the officer rank, was a petty drug dealer and identity-theft criminal who never served in the military or in any police or fire department.On March 25, 2008, at approximately 9:30 p.m., Officer William A. Smith Jr. of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department’s Narcotics Special Investigation Division stopped an oncoming vehicle that had tinted windows he believed were in violation of the D.C. Tinted Window Act of 1994.After stopping the vehicle, Smith found the driver, Harris, and his female passenger had been smoking marijuana. Harris had stuffed in his jacket pocket a large clear zip-lock bag containing 13 smaller clear zip-lock bags, each filled with marijuana.The affidavit of criminal complaint filed by Smith with the U.S. District Court specified that in the search of the vehicle, the officers found 19 different credit cards with names different from Harris and his female passenger. Also discovered were eight State Department passport applications, also in names different from Harris and his female passenger.The officers further discovered four of the names on the passport applications matched the names on the credit cards. A check with American Express while Harris was still on the scene of the traffic stop indicated that some of the American Express cards in his possession, but not in his name, had recently been used and that American Express had placed a “fraud alert” on the cards.Smith brought Harris to the D.C. Metropolitan Police Sixth District, where agents of the U.S. Secret Service, the State Department and the U.S. Postal Service questioned him. Harris’ involvement in passport application theft clearly made him no ordinary petty criminal.According to the criminal complaint filed by Smith, Harris admitted under questioning that he obtained the passport information from an unnamed co-conspirator working at the State Department. The complaint said the passport applications were used to obtain credit cards in the names of the passport applicants.Another unnamed co-conspirator working at the U.S. Postal Service intercepted the issued credit cards before they were delivered to the residences of the persons named on the cards.What was clear from Harris’ statements was that breaching passport records at the State Department had developed into major criminal activity conducted on a continuing basis by State Department employees with access to the State Department’s Passport Information Electronic Records System, commonly known by the acronym PIERS.What also was clear was that Harris had information related to the State Department employees who had breached Obama’s passport records and that he was cooperating with government officials.Despite the objection of the prosecutors, the judge at his arraignment released Harris the next day on personal recognizance. He was ordered to return to court for a hearing in June 2008.

Key Witness MurderedHowever, Harris did not live to attend the court hearing.On April 18, 2008, he was found murdered in Washington, D.C., by a single bullet to the head in what appeared to be a drive-by shooting.The Washington Times reported April 19, 2008, that a “key witness in a federal probe into passport information stolen from the State Department was fatally shot in front of a District church” at close range, around 11 p.m., in the 2800 block of 12th Street NE, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.Harris, who the Washington Times described as “cooperating with federal investigators,” was found slumped dead at the steering wheel of his car in front of the Judah House Praise Baptist Church in the northeast section of D.C., according to Commander Michael Anzallo, the head of the Metropolitan Police Department’s Criminal Investigations Division.A police officer patrolling the neighborhood at the time of Harris’ death heard gunshots and ran to the scene, only to find Harris dead inside his car. The Metropolitan Police admitted a “shot spotter” device had been used to locate Harris in the shooting, although police officials declined to say whether his death was a direct result of his cooperation with federal investigators.There is no evidence that today links Harris’ crimes or murder with the breach of Obama’s passport records by State Department contract employees.At first glance, Harris could be dismissed as a foot-soldier selling marijuana and peddling credit cards fraudulently obtained via passport-related identity theft.Yet there is more to the story than petty criminal activity. Obviously, Harris got himself in way over his head when he decided to work with the State Department officials accessing PIERS to obtain passport records without authorization.Equally obvious was that by being willing to cooperate with police, Harris risked becoming a threat to his accomplices and co-conspirators within the State Department.ABC news affiliate WJLA-TV in Washington, D.C., reported Cleopatria Harris, the mother of Leiutenant Quarles Harris, believed her son was murdered to keep him from cooperating with the federal investigation into the passport-record breach. She told the TV station her son was in court three days before his murder.“He felt like he was going to do jail time. He was willing to do jail time,” she said, indicating that she believed news reports that her son had been arrested and was cooperating with the police were the reason he was killed. “Yes I do. think it had a hell of a lot to do with it. [The story] made my son appear to be a snitch.”Similarly, the Washington Post reported Cleopatria Harris was “absolutely sure” her son was killed because of his involvement in the passport-credit card scam.Harris’ mother refused to believe her son’s murder was an act of violence unrelated to the passport scheme. Instead, she contended he was killed because he was an important witness regarding a State Department breach of passport records.To date, the D.C. Metropolitan Police have no suspects in the still unsolved murder of Leiutenant Quarles Harris Jr. Nor has the State Department ever revealed publicly what was discovered in the breach of Obama’s passport records. The three individuals involved in the breach have never come forward in public to tell what they found.

Obama Discloses Trip to PakistanBut this is not the end of the story. Two weeks after the report that Obama’s passport records had been breached, candidate Obama made the surprising disclosure at a private fundraiser April 7, 2008, that he had traveled to Pakistan during his college years.Jake Tapper, then senior White House correspondent for ABC News, commented that Obama’s disclosure that he had taken a college trip to Pakistan was “news to most of us.” Tapper said “it was odd we hadn’t heard about it before, given all the talk of Pakistan during this campaign.”Tapper reported that, according to the Obama campaign, Obama visited Pakistan in 1981, the year he transferred from Occidental College to Columbia University, and that he had visited his mother and sister Maya in Indonesia on the same trip.Why was Obama disclosing now, for the first time, that he had traveled to Pakistan with his roommates from Occidental College?Did Obama use an Indonesian passport to travel to Indonesia and Pakistan in 1981, and was he concerned the breach of his passport records might end up disclosing such information, if true?The attempt to preempt such a disclosure might explain the timing of Obama’s decision to suddenly reveal, at least to the friends assembled for the fundraiser, the previously undisclosed trip to Indonesia and Pakistan.“I traveled to Pakistan when I was in college,” Obama is heard saying on the poor-quality audiotape that survives from the San Francisco fundraiser. “I knew what Sunni and Shia was [sic] before I joined the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Roger Ailes: Obama Is ‘Lazy — Never Worked a Day in His Life'Obama Agrees: "I Think There's a Laziness In Me"In the interview with Barbara Walters, President Obama says, (SEE VIDEO) "Nothing frustrates me more than when people aren't doing their jobs."Read the transcript of President Obama talking about laziness.Barbara Walters, ABC News: "What's the trait you most deplore in yourself, and the trait you most deplore in others?"President Obama: "Laziness."Walters: "You're lazy?"Obama: "You know, it's interesting. There is a deep down, underneath all the work that I do, I think there's a laziness in me. It's probably from, you know, growing up in Hawaii and it's sunny outside, and sitting on the beach.

Fox News chief Roger Ailes says President Barack Obama is “lazy’’ and claims the commander-in-chief “never worked a day in his life,’’ a controversial new book claims.Ailes also takes shots at Vice President Joe Biden, saying, “he’s as dumb as an ashtray,” and at Newt Gingrich, who he says is a “sore loser.”In his upcoming biography, "Roger Ailes: Off Camera" By Zev Chafets (Amazon - $14.97, Released 3-19-13) writes that Ailes reacted to a crack by Democratic strategist Hilary Rosen that Ann Romney, wife of last year’s Republican presidential candidate, “never worked a day in her life,” with his own blunt opinion of the president.“Obama’s the one who never worked a day in his life. He never earned a penny that wasn’t public money,’’ Ailes said, according to Chavets.“How many fundraisers does he attend every week? How often does he play basketball and golf? I wish I had that kind of time. … He’s lazy, but the media won’t report that.”Ailes insists, however, that he didn’t come up with Obama’s “lazy’’ tag — but rather the president did himself during a 2011 interview with Barbara Walters in which he described his most deplorable trait as “deep down, underneath all the work I do, I think there’s a laziness in me.’’Ailes, who granted Chavets one-on-one interviews for the biography, also takes the gloves off on Vice President Joe Biden.“I have a soft spot for Joe Biden. I like him. But he’s dumb as an ashtray,’’ Ailes says, according to the book, which is published by Penguin Sentinel and excerpted on VanityFair.com.Chavets’ biography shows there’s no love lost between Ailes and Obama and details a testy sit-down between the two during the 2008 presidential campaign in which the future commander-in-chief lit into Sean Hannity.“Obama was upset by Fox News,’’ writes Chavets. In a private room at the Waldorf Astoria hotel in Manhattan, “Obama arrived with his aide Robert Gibbs, who seated Ailes directly across from Obama, close enough for Ailes to feel the intention was to intimidate him.“[Ailes] didn’t mind; in fact, he rather appreciated the stagecraft, one political professional to another.’’Chavets says after some pleasantries, “Obama got to the point. He was concerned about the way he was being portrayed on Fox, and his real issue wasn’t the news; it was Sean Hannity, who had been battering him every night.“Ailes didn’t deny that Hannity was anti-Obama. He simply told the candidate not to worry about it.Ailes is quoted as responding: “Nobody who watches Sean’s going to vote for you, anyway.”According to Chavets, Obama then asked Ailes what his personal concerns were.“Ailes said he was mainly concerned about Obama’s strength on national security issues. The candidate assured Ailes that he had nothing to worry about,’’ the author writes.“‘Well, why are you going around talking about making cuts in weapons systems?’ asked Ailes. ‘If you’re going to cut, why not at least negotiate them and get something in return?’”Obama said Ailes was misinformed, according to Chavets. “He said this looking me right in the eyes,” says Ailes. “He never dropped his gaze, which is the usual tell. It was as good a lie as anyone ever told me.“I said, ‘Senator, I just watched someone say exactly that on my computer screen before coming over here. Maybe it wasn’t you, but it sure looked like you and sounded like you. I think it was you.’”At that point, according to Chavets, “Gibbs stood and announced that the session was over. ‘I don’t think he liked the meeting very much,’ says Ailes.’’Ailes doesn’t let the GOP get by without some criticism.Of Gingrich, he says, the former GOP House Speaker is a “sore loser and if he had won he would have been a sore winner.” The book claims Ailes also described Gingrich with an obscenity.Chavets’ book is one of two new biographies on Ailes. The second is the upcoming “The Loudest Voice in the Room: Fox News and the Making of America,” by New York magazine writer Gabriel Sherman.Meanwhile, The New York Times reports Ailes himself is writing his autobiography, although no date is set for its release.

Secretary of State Dennis Rodman Gives Bizarre Interview to George Stephanopoulos(Top Right) Obama Shows His Basketball Skills Against Stiff OppositionWATCH VIDEO!Clearly frustrating George Stephanopoulos, former NBA great Dennis Rodman gave an insane interview on This Week, claiming that Kim Jong Un is not as bad as he seems. He also says that President Barack Obama should give the North Korean dictator a friendly phone call!“He wants Obama to do one thing: Call him,” Dennis told George on March 3. “He said, ‘If you can, Dennis – I don’t want to do war. I don’t want to do war.’ He said that to me.”“He wants President Obama to call him?” George asked.“He’s a great guy,” the former NBA player added, suggesting that Kim Jong Un and Barack Obama could have a friendly chat with each other.“He’s a great guy who’s put 200,000 in prison camps?” George quipped. “Guess what?” Dennis said, “we have prison camps here too.”Why Was Dennis Rodman In North Korea?Dennis was in North Korea with members of the Harlem Globetrotters and a camera crew from the upcoming HBO series, VICE.Dennis may go back to North Korea, but George suggests he does a little research first. “The next time you go back you should take this report from Human Rights Watch and ask him about that,” George said.What do YOU think of Dennis’ interview, HollywoodLifers? Was it bizarre?WATCH: Dennis Rodman Discusses Trip To North Korea and Meeting with King Jong Un

UPDATE: Dennis Rodman Booted From New York Bar for Screaming About 'How He Loves' Kim Jong UnDennis Rodman, just back from visiting Kim Jong Un, was escorted out of the Time Hotel in Midtown on Sunday after spending hours at the restaurant bar loudly telling anyone who would listen what a great guy the North Korean dictator is.“He was at the bar at Serafina for three hours,” says a spy. “He kept saying what a nice guy Kim is, and how Kim just wants to talk to President Obama about basketball. He was waving around a signed copy of the dictator’s huge manifesto, telling everyone they should read it.”Added the witness, “Dennis was making a total jerk of himself. He wouldn’t leave, and he wouldn’t let anyone talk to him about shutting up, or what an oppressive country North Korea is. Eventually he had to leave the bar because the bartender was starting to get [bleep]ed-off.”Rodman, who visited the Communist leader with members of the Harlem Globetrotters for an HBO series produced by VICE television, finally did leave the hotel. While the wacky former NBA star is a regular there, sources tell us staff are fed up with his attention-grabbing antics.“He’s always a problem,” one insider told us. “He is loud and does weird stuff. Like, he’ll come down to the front desk in his bathrobe in the middle of the night and make demands that people have to run to the store for him. He’s belligerent about it. I thought he was just on TV getting sober?”Rodman has appeared on both “Celebrity Rehab With Dr. Drew” and “Sober House.” He’s currently a contestant on Donald Trump’s “Celebrity Apprentice.”After checking out of the Time on Sunday night, Rodman headed to the Marriott Downtown. A rep for him said, “He ended up going to the Marriott because he was leaving in the morning and we wanted him to be closer to the airport.”Another rep said, “The Time is Dennis’ favorite hotel . . . There were a lot of people taking pictures, his security just didn’t like it and asked to move him out of the hotel. There was certainly no incident.”Reps for the Time Hotel chose to not comment.

The Low & No Information Voter’s Guide to Politics — Personal Responsibility Is Hard. We're Here to Help.By Oleg Atbashian(Creator ofThePeoplesCube.com) -- Are you typically lost when co-workers discuss current events around the water cooler? Do you have trouble figuring out the national debt or who that Ben Ghazi dude is, but you know what’s on Kim Kardashian’s grocery list?If you think you only deserve fun answers to all life’s questions … you’re right! This primer will help you look smart and morally superior in any political discussion. Just memorize these big words, explained in easy terms you already know from TMZ and The Daily Show:

BIASED: If you have a weird friend who goes to church and her parents are still married, that’s what they are.ELECTIONS: These are like the Teen Choice Awards: the coolest and most popular wins. Democrats always win because they are cool and popular. Republicans are more like your weird friend’s parents.DEBT CEILING: This is like Lindsay Lohan’s probation: by law, she should go to jail if she gets arrested, but we all know she won’t.PUBLIC EDUCATION.Think Memento. Remember how the guy in the movie learned to go through life and fight enemies by relying on snapshots, notes, and tattoos? Public education does that on a national level as a free service.IM-MI-GRA-TION: Whew, that’s a long word — just like that velvet rope outside nightclubs. When really fun people arrive, you just open it right up.QUAN-TI-TA-TIVE EASING: Remember Leonardo DiCaprio in Catch Me If You Can, and how he printed his own checks? Well, that’s what the Treasury secretary, Tim Geithner, does. It’s really cool.TRILLION DOLLARS: This is a silly number. If someone says: “The U.S. national debt has topped 16 trillion,” take it easy. Remember how Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to fifteen life terms while having only one life? Once you owe more than you can pay, numbers stop making sense. Anything above that is free money; spend it fast so you can get more.ECONOMIC STIMULUS: It’s like Whitney Houston upping her dosage to get the same high, always needing to use more and more to “chase the dragon.”SE-QUE-STRA-TION: This is just a made-up word that Republicans say to make you feel stupid.FAIR SHARE: Someone you know has three Louis Vuitton handbags and you only have one. As many as you can get somebody else to steal from them and give to you — that is your fair share.ENTITLEMENTS: This is like celebrities getting a $30,000 bag of goodies for showing up to the Oscars, so that the givers get more street cred and respect. And votes.FOREIGN POLICY: Think Lady Gaga’s world tour: it’s totally awesome but can also get weird — like, she’s hot in places like Europe and Japan, but gets booed and canceled in places like Indonesia.IRAN: Think Robert Downey Jr. — he may be calm at the moment, but if he gets his hands on the wrong stuff, he could trash his neighbor’s house and pass out naked on the lawn.MUSLIMS: These are like the blue people from the movie Avatar — they live in a magic tree and don’t need human technology or any of our laws like gravitation, because they have a miraculous energy source inside their planet. Humans must respect that, and send them humanitarian aid. But instead, an evil corporation from Earth brings drilling equipment; that’s why all humans get killed.ISRAEL: This is like the evil corporation from Avatar that landed on the blue people’s planet.OIL: Think magic energy source on planet Pandora that humans want to steal. Get over it, humans!OCCUPY WALL STREET: People in this movement are fighting greed by forcing Michael Douglas’ character in Wall Street to give more money to the 99% of people like us. We need to support their stand against corporations by friending them on Facebook™ and re-Tweeting them on Twitter™.MEDIA: The good media are like paparazzi and E! Entertainment who keep it real by telling us all the truth about interesting people. The bad media are like bullies who make good people look bad. Nobody listens to them except for your friend’s weird parents.HIGH-CAPACITY MAGAZINES: These do not contain expensive perfume samples that you can rip out while waiting at your hair salon. See GUN CONTROL.GUN CONTROL: If Naomi Campbell had a gun, she would be shooting at her maids all the time. Without a gun she just beats them with a cell phone and then gives them compensation. Everyone is alive and happy. As long as the government keeps guns away from the citizens, Rihanna and Chris Brown will always be together.PRESIDENT OBAMA: Think Brad Pitt, dashing A-lister who can’t do anything wrong.FIRST LADY: She is like Kim Kardashian, only with other people’s money.VICE PRESIDENT: Think Steve Carell, a lovable nincompoop who likes to make others laugh.WHITE HOUSE: This is like Cribs, a really fancy pad where celebrities hang out and party instead of working.MIDDLE CLASS: These are like the extras in movies — kind of important but nobody cares who they really are.CON-STI-TU-TION: It sounds almost like Cosmopolitan, except it’s really old and has no make-up ads or sexy pictures, but some people are really into it, like Antiques Roadshow.
Oleg Atbashian, a writer and graphic artist from Ukraine, currently lives in New York. He is the creator of ThePeoplesCube.com, a satirical website where he writes under the name of Red Square. He is the author of recently published Shakedown Socialism.

Gateway Pundit's Jim Hoft reports:This is getting a little creepy. According to one estimate, since last year the Department of Homeland Security has stockpiled more than 1.6 billion bullets, mainly .40 caliber and 9mm.And Modern Survival Blog reported: The Department of Homeland Security (through the U.S. Army Forces Command) recently retrofitted 2,717 of these ‘Mine Resistant Protected’ vehicles for service on the streets of the United States.Although I’ve seen and read several online blurbs about this vehicle of late, I decided to dig slightly deeper and discover more about the vehicle itself.SEE TANK PIC: Resistant Armor Protected Vehicle (MRAP)The new DHS sanctioned ‘Street Sweeper’ (my own slang due to the gun ports) is built by Navistar Defense (NavistarDefense.com), a division within the Navistar organization.)Under the Navistar umbrella are several other companies including International Trucks, IC Bus (they make school buses), Monaco RV (recreational vehicles), WorkHorse (they make chassis), MaxxForce (diesel engines), and Navistar Financial (the money arm of the company).)DHS even released a video on their newly purchased MRAPs, Via Pat Dollard.)The MRAP featured in this video is was in Albuquerque, New Mexico for Law Enforcement Day which was held at a local area Target Store.)This MRAP is stationed in El Paso, Texas at The Homeland Security Investigations Office. VIEW VIDEO of MRAP:Mine Resistant Armor Protected Vehicle.

Obama: I Would Negotiate With the Opposition ifThey Didn't 'Paint Horns on My Head'President Barack Obama suggested today he'd be able to negotiate with the opposition better if they didn't "paint horns on [his] head":"I recognize that Speaker Boehner has got challenges in his caucus," said Obama. "I recognize that it's very hard for Republican leaders to be perceived as making concessions to me.You know, sometimes I reflect, is there something else I can do to make these guys -- I am not talking about the leaders now, but maybe some of the House Republican caucus members not to paint horns on my head?And I genuinely believe there is an opportunity for us to cooperate.But what doesn't make sense, and the only thing we have seen from Republicans so far in terms of proposals, is to replace this set of arbitrary cuts with even worse arbitrary cuts."

Obama: 'I Am Not A Dictator — Patience!'President Obama: "I am not a dictator; I'm the president. So, ultimately if Mitch McConnell or John Boehner say we need to go to catch a plane, I can't have Secret Service block the doorway, right?" — SEE VIDEODENIAL IS CONFIRMATIONBy Daniel Greenfield -- Politicians often seem to deny that one quality about them that everyone knows is true. Obama's "I Am Not a Dictator" deserves to join "I Am Not a Crook" in the annals of political denials.Obama is finding a dozen different ways to say that he doesn't wield absolute power. "I am not a dictator". "I can't mind-meld Congress into making a deal." "Even though I have been doing anything I want with respect to everything else, when it comes to the sequester I can't take control of it, even though the Senate has offered me that opportunity." I am not a dictator, except when I want to be.

Feb 19 2013 Application (12A606) denied by the Court:The plaintiffs contend that Obama used forged government IDs and a fake social security number in order to run for political office. (See YouTube video at the bottom on CNN's 2008 story on Obama's alleged real father Frank Marshall Davis, a card-carrying communist who the president mentions in his autobiography Dreams from My Father.)On Tuesday, Orly Taitz - an attorney for the plaintiffs - conveyed some additional allegations against the president beyond what was included in Noonan's case pleadings.This week, an unidentified source has informed the California-based lawyer that the reason why Michelle Robinson Obama (a graduate of a relative's social security number (Harrison J. Bounel).The SSN 042-68-4425 is simultaneously tied to Obama and Bounel in background check systems. The source's claim is unsubstantiated. However, birthers are currently investigating the allegation.On Tuesday, the plaintiffs also protested lower-level clerks' decision to withhold the Supplemental Brief and other case pleadings from several of the Supreme Court justices. Taitz had vouched for a thorough review of the arguments to as many of the high court's judges.Court records show that on Dec. 26, 2012, or three weeks before Obama's second inauguration, Chief Justice John Roberts reversed Justice Anthony Kennedy's rejection and ordered the case distributed for conference on Feb. 15.However, on that day SCOTUS released its list of granted petitions and Noonan v. Bowen was not included. Tuesday's decision is a major setback for the birther movement as the federal government's judicial branch has rejected hearing the case.While there are multiple lower-level lawsuits, such as in California and Washington, birthers now appear to be targeting members of congress to initiate formal hearings which could lead to impeachment of the president.Impeachment is highly unlikely given that Democrats control the U.S. senate. House Republicans have also been unwilling to investigate Obama's personal and professional background in light of urgent tasks, including the need to address the March 1 sequestration cuts. During the 2012 presidential elections, Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his Super Pacs also abstained from questioning Obama's eligibility to serve as president.On Feb. 17, Taitz sent a request for an investigation to Rep. Bob Goodlatte (Virginia, Republican), who serves as chair of the judiciary committee in the house of representatives.Plaintiffs and their attorney are demanding an immediate investigation of both the actions of the employees of the Supreme Court of the United States in hiding pleadings and exhibits from the Justices and Barack Obama’s use of forged IDs and a stolen Social Security 042-68-4425.Thus far, an online petition requesting a formal investigation into the president's government IDs and SSN have resulted in over 32,000 letters and emails to members of congress.

Evidence on Obama Withheld from 5 Supremes — No Surprise Here!On Sunday, a leading birther plaintiff claimed that clerks of the U.S.Supreme Court(SCOTUS) never forwarded to five out of nine justices one single page of pleadings in a lawsuit alleging that Barack Obama is ineligible to serve as president.Dr. Orly Taitz, who is among the petitioners in the Noonan et al vs. Bowen case, sent a Feb. 17 email to Republican Examiner stating that the clerks did not forward to any of the justices the case's Supplemental Brief which contains evidence that Obama used forged IDs and a fake social security number in order to run for political office. Article 2 Section 1 of the U.S. constitution stipulates that:In 2008, the Associated Press obtained Obama's Indonesian grade school registration which, when translated into English, identifies him as an Indonesian citizen.No person except a natural born Citizen, or a Citizen of the United States, at the time of the Adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the Office of President.Via the Post Office, SCOTUS clerks returned to Taitz several unopened packages of the Supplemental Brief which were intended to be reviewed by the nation's highest court. The attorney took several photographs of the returned packages as evidence of possible sabotage by lower judicial associates.On Jan. 9, Chief Justice John Roberts had approved Noonan vs. Bowen for distribution in conference for Feb. 15 after being denied by Justice Anthony Kennedy. Last week, four African American clerks prevented Taitz from verifying Kennedy's signature on a SCOTUS document that shows the justice reviewed the case before denying it.Taitz's Supplemental Brief states, "[a] citizen of Indonesia, as listed in his school registration #203 from Franciscan Assisi school in Jakarta, Indonesia. As a citizen of Indonesia Obama was never eligible and never legitimate for the U.S. Presidency." In 2008, the Associated Press obtained Obama's Indonesian grade school registration which, when translated into English, identifies him as an Indonesian citizen.On Feb. 17, Taitz sent a request for an investigation to Rep. Bob Goodlatte (Virginia, Republican), who serves as chair of the judiciary committee in the house of representatives.Plaintiffs and their attorney are demanding an immediate investigation of both the actions of the employees of the Supreme Court of the United States in hiding pleadings and exhibits from the Justices and Barack Obama’s use of forged IDs and a stolen Social Security 042-68-4425.Thus far, an online petition requesting a formal investigation into the president's government IDs and SSN have resulted in over 32,000 letters and emails to members of congress.

Missouri Democrats Introduce Law to Confiscate GunsGun Owners Given 90 Days to Turn in Their WeaponsMissouri House Democrats have introduced an anti-gun bill which would turn law-abiding firearm owners into criminals by banning semi-automatic firearm possession [via @ElliottBobert]:(4) Any person who, prior to the effective date of this law, was legally in possession of an assault weapon or large capacity magazine shall have 90 days from such effective date to do any of the following without being subject to prosecution:(1) Remove the assault weapon or large capacity magazine from the state of Missouri;(2) Render the assault weapon permanently inoperable; or(3) Surrender the assault weapon or large capacity magazine to the appropriate law enforcement agency for destruction, subject to specific agency regulations.(5) Unlawful manufacture, import, possession, purchase, sale, or transfer of an assault weapon or a large capacity magazine is a class C felony.So any Missourian who doesn’t surrender their semi-automatic weapon would be charged with a class C felony. It’s disarmament and a complete dissolve of the Second Amendment. Their focus on magazines, as I’ve said repeatedly, is silly, considering a) they’re universal and b) can be easily made in your garage.Thankfully Republicans hold a super majority in Missouri legislature. The bill has only been introduced and read twice; it’s a go-nowhere bill but designed, I think, to test the waters as we’ve seen numerous bills of similar sort introduced in other states.Here is the publicly available contact information for these 4 elected Missouri representatives:Minnesota Democrats are pushing similar legislation using nearly identical language as the Missouri bill.MN H.F. No. 241, as introduced – 88th Legislative Session (2013-2014)Posted on Jan 31, 2013

AS SEEN ON TV — Rubio's PAC Sells Water Bottles — Builds War Chest on the 'Sip Seen Across the World'OFFICIAL MARCO RUBIO WATER BOTTLE

In response to the outrage over Marco Rubio's decision to drink water during his response to the State of the Union Address, his PAC, Reclaim America, has begun selling water bottles."If you had an opportunity to watch Marco's Response to the State of the Union last night, you were undoubtedly energized by his message of upward mobility, free enterprise and limited government," writes Rubio's PAC in an email."If you've watched the media coverage since, you might think that Marco spent the entire time gulping gallons of water. The liberals and the pundits flocking to Twitter and blanketing MSNBC can't stop talking about what it means that Marco stopped and took a drink of water in the middle of his speech.Why would they be so focused on a man reaching for water instead of on what he said? Because they know they can't effectively tear down his message. So they will try and distract from it. What he said was too conservative, too convincing and frankly too inspiring for some in the media and their liberal allies.So instead of attacking his message they attack the messenger. We've seen it before but it won't work this time."But don't get angry at the liberals who want to bury what Marco said. Laugh at them.So in that spirit, we here at Reclaim America are launching the official line of Marco Rubio water bottles -- GO HERE TO PURCHASE"Send the liberal detractors a message that not only does Marco Rubio inspire you... He hydrates you too."MSNBC Replays Rubio Water Sip 155 Times in One Day, CNN (34) and Fox News (12)The liberal hosts on MSNBC just couldn't get enough of watching U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio reach for a glass of water and take a sip during his rebuttal of President Barack Obama's State of the Union address, airing the snippet a staggering 155 times during the Wednesday broadcast schedule.Other cable news networks showed the footage far less often. CNN aired it 34 times, and Fox News Channel played it just 12 times -- all of which took place on “The O’Reilly Factor” and “Hannity” while the hosts discussed the media's obsession with the Florida Republican's “watergate” incident.MSNBC's total would not have been so overwhelming if the host of “The Rachel Maddow Show” hadn't aired it 101 times, along with a loop of the moment at the bottom of the television screen for more than 13 minutes.

'Benghazi: The Definitive Report'written by Brandon Webb and Jack Murphy, is published by William Morrow Company, an imprint of HarperCollins (Kindle Price: $2.99). It will be available for download in Kindle eBook format February 12th.By Kyle Smith -- (Part 4 of 4) As Woods was thanking Doherty, though, the attackers were adjusting their mortar fire, and getting closer with each volley. A French 81 mm round ended Woods’ life, though as he fell, his body shielded another security agent, saving his life.Doherty was killed instantly by a direct hit on his position from another mortar round.From below, several other agents rushed up to the roof and put themselves in the line of fire while they saved the other two men’s lives. They lowered the bodies down with rope they had cut down from their gym. One JSOC agent strapped a wounded DSS man to his back, then climbed down a ladder under fire. Everyone at the CIA compound might well have been killed if they had remained, but an unmanned intelligence drone overhead signalled, by tracing heat signatures, that a much larger hostile force was gathering.Some 30 Americans loaded into vehicles and evacuated the area. They were fired on again during the drive to the airport, but made it and escaped to Tripoli on two flights, at 7:30 and 8:30 a.m. Sept. 12. Stevens’ body was finally recovered when a local was sent to the Benghazi morgue and “there was likely a money exchange,” the authors say, to release the remains, which were on the 8:30 plane.So, who is to blame for Benghazi? The authors are withering on the subject of John Brennan, our likely next CIA director.“The overrunning of the consulate and the killing of the two [Navy SEALs] must have come as a shock to” then-CIA chief David Petraeus, Murphy and Webb say. Petraeus had been cut out of the loop as Brennan passed up to Director of Central Intelligence James Clapper “the bare minimum of information needed to keep these secret missions legal.”Since the CIA didn’t know about the secretive hit squads targeting al Qaeda, the agency and the consulate personnel were caught off guard: “They had no idea that the Special Operations missions would be kicking the hornet’s nest in Libya and therefore could not prepare for the fallout that would result.” Petraeus, the authors say, “was furious about being left in the lurch by the Obama administration.” Either Murphy or Webb was present, they say, at a Veterans Day parade in New York in 2011 during which Petraeus’s personal security detail lost contact with him for an hour. The authors suggest that such shoddy treatment was a sign that other leading CIA figures wanted him out and “cashed in their chips” by allowing details of the general’s affair with Paula Broadwell, which the FBI had known about for months, to become public. Petraeus’ fall was a “palace coup,” Murphy and Webb claim.“Ambitious bureaucrats like John Brennan need to be reined in or fired,” say Murphy and Webb. “Or we will see plenty more Benghazis happen. This occurs on a fairly regular basis in Afghanistan, where JSOC will raid a terrorist compound and kill the enemy, and the conventional units who patrol the area end up paying the price. Long after JSOC takes off in their black helicopters, the conventional forces are getting IED-ed along the roads by angry jihadists who are retaliating against any Americans they can find.“This is what really happened in Benghazi, and this is why the Obama administration is more than happy to have the media fixated on red herrings at the consulate or wound up in an intellectual Gordian knot about some YouTube video.”How much of Murphy and Webb’s version should we believe? Given that they don’t tell us who their sources are, not to mention the conspiratorial tone to some of their insinuations, skepticism is in order. They tell us not to trust the mainstream media, which is fine, but their utter opacity about sourcing should be taken with a truckload of salt.Nevertheless, Murphy and Webb raise important questions about the unintended consequence of America’s covert wars, and unless they are peddling sheer Tom Clancy-ish fiction, we need to know more. The Benghazi story isn’t over.EXCLUSIVE: David Petraeus was brought down after betrayal by vengeful CIA agents and his own bodyguards who made sure his affair was exposed, claims new bookBy Michael Zennie -- Brandon Webb, a former Navy SEAL, and Jack Murphy, a former Green Beret, reveal the new claims in their book 'Benghazi: The Definitive Report'; which will be available for download in eBook format February 12th. ■ “Petraeus was humiliated after a 'palace coup' by high-level intelligence officers who did not like the way he was running the CIA, authors say ■ “The book also claims that Petraeus and Ambassador Chris Stevens were caught off guard by Benghazi consulate attack because they weren't briefed about on-going U.S. military operations in Libya ■ “Webb and Murphy say Benghazi attack was a retaliation for secret raids authorized by Obama security adviser John Brennan ■ “David Petraeus was betrayed by his own bodyguards and vengeful high-ranking enemies in the CIA, who made sure his affair with his biographer was exposed to the public, a new book claims.MailOnline can reveal a new angle on the story that rocked Washington last fall. It comes from two retired special operations commandos - a Navy SEAL and a Green Beret - who say they discovered a plot against the former CIA director while doing research about the attacks on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya.Senior CIA officers targeted Petraeus because they didn't like the way he was running the agency - focusing more on paramilitary operations than intelligence analysis. They used their political clout and their connections to force an FBI investigation of his affair with Paul Broadwell and make it public, according to